Shattered
by muggleborn.dragon.ryder
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one-shots on Jack's life as the Guardians try to help him through tough times. 'Piece by piece, day by day, sometimes second by second, they were healing him. They were putting him back together. Putting everything that made him Jack back together. His spirit...his smile...his broken, broken heart'.
1. Before Help Came

**A/N: ****Title: Before Help Came**

**Summary: '****Piece by piece, day by day, sometimes second by second, they were healing him. ****They were putting him back together. ****Putting everything that made him JACK back together.**

**His spirit…his smile…his broken, broken heart.'**

* * *

Before help came, Jack was dead.

Before help came, his eyes had faded, lost all their original color and of course their sparkle of mischief.

Jack heard his sister's cries as he fell into the icy water, but how could he answer them?

Water filled up his ears, eyes and mouth.

His eyes turned crystal blue and his hair glowed white.

The moon told Jack he was Jack Frost.

And when the moon tells you something…believe it.

* * *

Before help came, the blizzards did.

The endless blizzards, the blizzards that froze everything in sight, killing hundreds of people who had been out on the roads that day.

The blizzards came on so suddenly.

The wind wailed and howled, and ice formed on everything that touched the wild, wayward snowflakes.

Nothing could calm the storm except time.

WHY was he stuck in this wintry body, stuck in a world devoid of color and warmth, just like his body?

WHY had the moon told him he was Jack Frost?

WHY was he Jack Frost in the first place?

How could he make snow?

WHY?

HOW?

WHO?

* * *

Before help came, the ice did.

It froze him, everything about him, just the way he was.

It froze his emotions…could they ever be defrosted?

It froze his body…would he ever age?

It froze his shattered heart…would it ever melt and beat again?

* * *

Before help came, the Guardians did.

And they were their own form of help.

Piece by piece, day by day, sometimes second by second, they were healing him.

They were putting him back together.

Putting everything that made him JACK back together.

His spirit…his smile…his broken, broken heart.


	2. Jack Frost

**A/N: Title: Jack Frost**

**Summary: NONE **

**This is a poem, not a drabble or one-shot. Poems will be mixed in whenever I feel the urge.**

* * *

He's fallen from grace,

He's trying to find his place,

He can't see where he's going,

Or what his life is showing.

* * *

He can't find himself, out there in the snow,

But he lives for winter, he lives all alone.

The snowflakes are his, they're his only company,

But anyone could see him, if only they'd believe.

* * *

He's tried to fix things all on his own,

But they end up worse than if he'd left them all alone.

He can't do anything and when he can, he can't do it right,

But he can't escape, he's trapped in this frozen life.

* * *

He has failed once, but will he fail twice?

He has been in debt before; this time, will he pay the price?

He's lonely, hurting, tearful, and lost,

These are all the things that have made Jack Frost.


	3. Disgust

**A/N: Title: Disgust**

**Summary: They were looking at him with such disgust. What were they thinking behind their cool eyes and what would they say with their distant, unforgiving words?**

**This is for the scene where Jack finds out the baskets got trampled and the eggs got crushed and Bunny said the thing about Easter's "new beginnings" and "new life". **

**Also, my computer disagrees with the name Bunnymund.**

* * *

When the Guardians looked at him that way, it felt as if something inside of him had broken.

They were looking at him with such disgust. What were they thinking behind their cool eyes and what would they say with their distant, unforgiving words?

When North finally spoke, his voice was hard as steel. "You were with Pitch?!" He yelled.

Jack gripped the tooth box so tightly he thought it might break apart in his pale hands. "No…I…I just…"

"We should never have trusted you!" Bunnymund yelled, hopping over to them.

There was a few seconds of silence as Jack looked stricken, then all the fight seemed to leave the bunny.

"Easter's about new beginnings, new life," he said quietly. "Easter's about hope. And now it's gone."

Jack Frost had never cried in his life, but he felt frozen-over tears building up in his eyes as Bunny turned away and the other Guardians walked away.

He felt a little piece of his frozen heart break.

"_They'll never accept you. Not really." _As Pitch's words came back to him, he swallowed. Pitch had been right.

But Jack felt like he really, really deserved it.


	4. Unseen

**A/N: Title: Unseen**

**Summary: POEM :D **

**This one I'm very, VERY proud of.**

* * *

Alone and alone for three hundred years,

Crying nothing more than half-frozen tears.

His sorrow burns true and it burns strong,

He never knew why he could never belong.

* * *

He longed for a family, a sibling, a mom a dad.

Tearing him up, the things he never had.

He tried to lie and say he was fine,

But if it was his words, he was never alright.

* * *

He tried so hard to climb the walls,

And every time, he'd let go and fall.

The wind would catch him, but it didn't take away the sting,

Of trying so hard and failing at everything.

* * *

And so Jack Frost kept his head down,

No one could see him and no one knew he was around.

He tried everything but no one ever saw him,

So he gave up and never tried again.

* * *

Now Jack hovers somewhere in the snow,

His face and hands blue, his body freezing cold.

His heart like a spider web of cracks on glass,

Struggling to grasp onto memories of his past.

* * *

You'll never see him, but he'll always be there,

Just out of reach, unseen, like a page with a jagged tear.

Unseen forever, forever and beyond,

Unseen long after forever is gone.


	5. The Coldest Touch

As Jack waltzed right in to North's workshop on his bare graceful feet, he got hugged by Tooth, who pulled away with a shiver.

He smiled. "That's why you don't hug the spirit of winter."

The meeting continued and they all talked happily.

Watching Jack, North realized that out of all the Guardians, he brought warmth.

Oh, no, he brought a blast of cold air everywhere; the windows wide open as he blasted inside, chuckling and sipping the cold drink North offered; teaching the elves dirty words and having to listen to them repeat them for hours on end; irritating the yetis, driving them to distraction; mocking Bunnymund.

Jack just brought warmth with him wherever he went.

Not a physical heat, but the sort that fills you up and makes your face flushed and makes your annoyance turn to happiness in a second.

While Bunny brought hope and Sandy brought entertainment and Tooth brought her hyperactivity and a few dozen fairies, and North brought his Russian accent and wonder, Jack brought warmth.

How ironic, North thought.

Ironic that the person with the coldest touch could bring so much warmth.

* * *

**A/N: This just came to me in a sudden burst of inspiration. Forgive me. **

**Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot the title is 'The Coldest Touch' and the summary...eh, I suppose it would be something cheeseballish (cheeseball = ball of cheesiness. Cheeseballish = something cheesy only a cheeseball would say)**

**Summary: **

**Jack may be the Winter Spirit, but he brings warmth too.**


	6. What I Am Not

**A/N: Title: What I Am Not**

**Summary: Jack is tired of being alone. Pointless angst.**

**Yeah there's gonna be a second part called Who I Am.**

* * *

My name is Jack Frost.

And I am alone on this green earth.

Oh, people know I exist. But they're all people who actually matter, who actually do something every day instead of sitting around making snow.

Yes, making snow counts as doing something but c'mon. There's gotta be, just GOTTA be more to life than this.

I can't do it anymore.

I have tried everything and no one ever sees me.

They see Santa Claus.

They see the Easter Bunny.

They see the Sandman.

They see the Tooth Fairy.

They see nothing. They see nada, zip, zilch, a stretch of blank, white landscape like an overlooked dewdrop on a blade of grass. And they walk right through me.

I look at them, I try to be friendly as possible, I even speak to them and THEY DON'T SEE ME.

The man in the moon put me here, told me I was Jack Frost and left me alone to just SURVIVE in this sick hellhole.

Does he think it's some kind of joke? Does he think I like the feeling of people just looking at me and not seeing anything or better yet walking right, I mean right through me.

Like I'm invisible, like I'm a myth.

I AM NOT A MYTH. I AM JACK FROST AND I AM NOT A MYTH.


	7. Who I Am

**A/N: This is the next part to What I Am Not, called 'Who I Am'****. Think I should keep going? Also, do you want angst or fluff next? I keep thinking fluff but I can't go about the drabble correctly!**

* * *

My name is Jack Frost.

And I found out that I don't have to be alone.

Because I'm a Guardian.

And I will always protect the kids of the world.

The first thing the moon told me was that I'm Jack Frost. That was over three hundred years ago.

I thought he just left me to skulk in shadows and snow days for three hundred years just for his own entertainment, but it turned out I was pretty much dead wrong.

Because I'm a Guardian.

And kids see me.

They don't just see plain snow or laughing kids or all of that.

Instead, they see ME. Jack Frost.

Three hundred years alone and now people see me, they recognize me.

The Guardians call me family.

The second thing the moon told me was that I'm a Guardian. And I am. I really, really am.

I'm happier now, much happier and I sort of wish that those last three centuries just never happened I might just find a use for them after all.

I mean, look at me.

I NEVER, NEVER thought I'd be a Guardian.

But I am.

So maybe just maybe those three hundred long, lonely ever so painful years might just come in useful after all.

I'll see you next time I hear the moon.


	8. Finally

Phil remembered Jack.

Jack was that troublesome winter teen.

Jack meant trouble.

Jack meant fun.

Jack meant frost.

Whatever that little boy meant to Phil, it was pleasant. Jack would mock the workers until they were driven to distraction, chasing him out of the workshop.

And now Phil thought that maybe Jack wasn't purely ecstatic because he'd annoyed the yetis. Maybe he was that delighted because someone was finally taking notice of him.

* * *

**A/N: So...short, I know, but Phil seemed to recognize Jack. Did anybody else notice the way he pounded a fist into his palm? I keep thinking this drabble sounds like something I read for Phil and Jack once, but I can't remember it, and I don't THINK it does. If you recognize anything, tell me and I will take this down ASAP. **


	9. Silence

Jack was a talker.

That was one thing they all agreed on, that Jack liked to chat. He liked to have conversations with people and to have them talk back to him and he absolutely hated, just HATED silence.

When he wasn't chattering away to whatever Guardian he was checking up on, he was making noise, some sort of it.

He would scrape his snowy staff against the stone floor, or create icicles in his hands, or cause a small blizzard to erupt right there, only causing minimum destruction, which was pretty impressive for him.

Three hundred years of silence and he was sick of it. Now that he could finally hear people talking back to him, he hated the silence and made that very clear.

After three hundred years of it, Jack was sick of silence.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, this is my next one. **

**I was just thinking that if I had to be alone for three hundred years I'd hate silence too.**

**So I was inspired. A lot of these next few will have no dialogue but it really doesn't seem to call for it.**


	10. Blizzard

**A/N: This was inspired by some other RotG person on here who wrote a fanfiction where Jack Frost, in passing, mentioned beginning the blizzard to get Bunnymund's attention and nothing else.**

* * *

Jack and Bunny both remembered the snowstorm in 1968 on Easter Sunday.

Bunny regarded it as the little white-haired twit acting up again, but Jack had done it in hopes that Bunnymund would get mad enough to chew him out.

Jack sent the giant blizzard, and looked at the moon and said aloud, "At last, one of the Guardians will have to take notice of me. Bunnymund can't ignore this insult to his holiday!"

The moon didn't answer, and neither did Bunnymund.

So Jack lived in silence, waiting for the bad-tempered little rabbit to come lecture him about the blizzard, but weeks passed and there was no sign of Bunny, though his message was clear: 'you're going to live out the rest of your frozen life alone and we're going to ignore you until finally you snap'.


	11. Nothing But Trouble

North could describe Jack Frost in many ways. Troublesome, irritating, fun-loving, mischievous, first kid ever on the naughty list.

But he never could imagine Jack as sad or lonely. Sad and lonely put him in mind of a child who no longer believed in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, but not of Jack!

The kid was just too happy.

He was always teasing the yetis and laughing and never mind the blizzard he'd made on the night he became the teen of winter. It just reflected his confusion. Jack might've been bewildered, but lonely? Depressed? Sad?

Simply laughable, North thought. Jack was just a troublemaker.

* * *

Tooth had always secretly thought Jack was kinda cute. But she'd never seen him up close and personal before.

She often asked, "Jack WHO?" when anybody brought up that white-haired winter spirit. The best thing she could say about him was that he sounded like he had adorable teeth. Teeth were the first thing Tooth noticed about someone. Natural for the tooth fairy, right?

Her mini fairies went for him as well, but Tooth mostly just didn't think about him.

Who was the teen of winter to her? Nothing, she told herself.

So she forgot about him for three centuries.

* * *

Sandy had heard horror tales of Jack Frost. Only, North and Bunnymund didn't CALL him Jack Frost.

They called him JACK FROST in a terrified whisper.

Sandy didn't actually know much about him. He brought snow and ice, right? And sometimes rain, awful, heavy driving rain. It was the rain Sandy hated.

Snow and ice, he could live with, but rain reminded him of a teenager who had attempted suicide before or something like that. And Sandy didn't want any spirit to be like that. If there was someone behind rain who was truly depressive, it wasn't Jack Frost. Jack was cheerful and smiling, always ready to cause a commotion at the drop of a hat.

If rain had feelings, then Jack did. And if Jack had feelings, what must he think of the Guardians? If Jack had feelings, he was capable of being upset or lonely. If Jack had feelings, it would complicate things too much.

A snow-making Jack was A-OK. Ice didn't have feelings. It was frozen.

Jack was just an ice cube – smooth, white, uncaring. Right?

* * *

Jack Frost was nothing. Jack was nothing but trouble. He was a little hellion who screwed up Bunnymund's egg hunts and made blizzards in March, when everyone was pretty much tired of winter. But he wasn't special, not even irritating enough to confront. Bunny really thought the best possible thing for Jack Frost was to let him be ignored. If his antics were overlooked, he would get tired of mocking the Guardians, right? Jack was just looking for attention, and if it was attention he wanted, he wasn't going to get it. Not from Bunnymund.

Because, in the end, Jack Frost wasn't even important enough to care about.

He was nothing but trouble.

* * *

**A/N: I'm kind of making the Guardians out to be bad guys in that, aren't I? **

**:P That's strange for me, because although they totally ignored Jack, I loved all of them, each of them! Jack was my favorite of course, then probably Tooth or North because they were sweet, and Bunny and Sandy because they're awesome and Bunny is grumpy and snarkful (I just made up a new word, lol. It's like snarky only a person is full of snark. snarkful.) and Sandy kicked Pitch's little nightmare arse.**

**Anyway, I'm done rambling about why I like the Guardians. **

**This idea was inspired by a chapter in "The One and Only" by Dragons-Sister. It's for HTTYD though, you won't find it in this RotG archive. Anyway, hope you liked!**


	12. Shameful Bracelets

**A/N: Title: Shameful Bracelets **

**Summary: Uh...a little poem I wrote from Jack's POV. **

**WARNING: There is talk of self-injury here. Just so you know. I'm warning you because I know a lot of people don't like talking about it or hearing about it or anything. Anyway, don't read it if you don't wanna.**

* * *

Lines crisscrossing on my wrists,

Always getting closer to the vein,

Soaking the sleeve with red,

The worst kind of pain.

* * *

Bracelets of shame, encircling my wrist,

The only kind for me,

What other blades could cut deep enough,

Inside this frozen body?

* * *

The only thing that pierces me

And is sharper than a knife,

Is the fact that I know,

I'm all alone in this god-awful life.

* * *

My name is Jack Frost,

And I think I've passed you by,

On the street, when I'm making snow,

You don't see me hovering in the sky.

* * *

No one has seen me, for a really long time,

So in fact that's okay,

I don't care anymore,

That's what I tell myself anyway.

* * *

But still it stings a little,

To know I'm really not enough,

I bring joy to the children who don't see me,

I've been doing it for years and now it doesn't hurt as much.

* * *

My name is Jack Frost,

Because the moon told me so.

It was the only thing he ever told me…

And that was a long, long time ago.


	13. Mate

**A/N: Title: Mate**

**Summary: Jack is scared the Guardians are going to leave him. Can Bunny convince him otherwise?**

**Not meant to be Jackrabbit. I don't get them at all. Maybe because one's a bunny and one's a human but I don't ship girl/girl or boy/boy.**

* * *

"_They'll never accept you. Not really."_

Jack awoke, cold sweat on his face. Wiping it away, he saw he was nose-to-nose with a six-foot-one rabbit with nerves of steel and bright green eyes.

Getting more startled than the situation really warranted, he snatched up his staff and pointed it at Bunny. Then he saw familiarity in the bunny's eyes and he relaxed. "Oh. Kangaroo. It's you."

Bunny scowled. "Not a kangaroo, mate."

Jack held up his pale hands as if in surrender. "Fine. Fine."

"What were you thinking anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Jack quirked an eyebrow.

"North hadn't heard from you and he was getting pretty upset. He sent me here to check on you. He can't leave his yetis on December 23rd."

Jack swallowed. "So? What, just because I've been quiet on the snow front means you have to go out and file a missing persons report?"

In truth, he kind of liked the feeling of being worried about. It was a nice feeling, one he hadn't had in a long, long time.

"No, I meant what are you thinking because you were jerking in your sleep. What did you…what…?"

"Oh. That. Right."

"Yeah. So what were you thinking?"

"I was dreaming."

Bunny snorted quietly. "Some dream."

The simple action made Jack angry. "Listen, Bunnymund, just because you are all hunky-dory and Pitch is defeated and you Guardians can leave me alone again doesn't mean you can just come here to rub it in. I have more dignity than THAT."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Jack answered, turning away. He tightened his grip on his staff, making him look madder than he really was. "I'm not so hungry for people to talk to that I will put up with you mocking me like that. I don't need you."

Bunny drew back but at last he understood where Jack was going. "Listen, Frostbite," he said gruffly, "you're a Guardian now. Even if we did want to leave you alone and forget about you, we couldn't. And you know what no one wants to. The other Guardians care about you, Jack." Bunny forced the next words out. "And hey, maybe a little fun is what I need sometimes, you know mate?"

Jack whirled around to look at him. "What…did you just…?"

"Oh yeah, fine, okay I said it. Sometimes I need you to help loosen me up and help me have fun. Shut up."

"You guys aren't leaving me?"

Bunny heard the hopeful note in Jack's voice and grasped what 300 years alone had done to the kid. Jack was changed. If someone had reached out to him and tried to help him and keep him company before this, would he be this lonely and scared?

"Course we aren't."

Jack's eyes glistened and he smiled in relief. "You swear?"

"I swear upon one of my precious googies, mate."

* * *

**A/N: So...yeah...*slides back into corner* Hope you liked.**


	14. Happy Easter

**A/N: Title: Happy Easter**

**Summary: It's Jack's 2nd Easter with the Guardians, the one after Pitch is defeated, and Jack gives Bunny an Easter surprise...**

**Not Jackrabbit. Yes, I know it's a day late.**

* * *

Bunny came into his Warren after a tough day delivering eggs to see a single ice egg lying there.

He picked it up and Jack called, "Look around!"

Bunny's head jerked upward and he spotted Jack floating lazily along.

Obeying the boy's command, he noticed ice eggs hidden in little nooks and crannies all along the hole.

"Jack Frost!" He yelled. "What have you done?"

"It's Easter!" Jack yelled. "What does the Easter Bunny do?"

"Paint eggs? Hide them?" Bunny asked.

"Exactly," Jack told him. "You deserve your own Easter egg hunt, after all."

Bunny looked around and saw all the ice eggs – or nearly all. He began picking them up, but they began melting in his paws.

He left them in a pile by his entrance/exit and looked for more.

Jack had left a few seconds ago, and now Bunny was willing to admit that he was actually having fun.

Not that he'd ever tell Jack that, of course.

He spotted the last egg in a small nook and yanked it up.

He spotted a white piece of paper below it. "Bunny," he read aloud, "Happy Easter! Even the Easter Kangaroo – er, Bunny – deserves his own egg hunt every once in a while. What do you think?"

Bunny smiled. He was really thinking it was creative but let's not tell Jack that. He didn't want the overgrown snowball planning an egg hunt for him every Easter.

But even as he slowly let the melting eggs melt faster, he thought, this has been a very happy Easter indeed.


	15. Skating on Thin Ice

**A/N: Title: Skating on Thin Ice**

**Summary: Jack hasn't gone ice skating since he became Jack Frost, and North happily tells the other Guardians they are going ice-skating. Jack, after knowing how he met his early demise, is afraid**

* * *

Jack had gone ice skating so many times before.

But now that the Guardians were choosing what to do, and North had chosen, 'go ice skating' there was no real way around it.

Jack leaned over and froze the ice over again, making it thicker.

He was not risking anyone falling through.

"Jack?" North asked, watching him hesitate. "Is all ok?"

Jack nodded, then said, "I haven't gone ice skating in a really long time."

He hadn't gone since he'd become the teen of winter, even before he understood how. There was just something about the river, the dark water that bubbled underneath the ice, that had scared him away.

Now he was not letting it scare him again.

He put his foot on the ice.

He had hit a weak spot and it cracked.

He gasped and pulled his foot off.

"Jack?" North asked.

"Frostbite?" Bunny asked. "Everything alright, mate?" He had been skating along, clearly nervous but at the sight of Jack edging away from the edge, he had forgotten his own fright.

Jack nodded and froze the lake again. He put his foot on. It held his weight and he slowly began skating over to the other side.

When he finally did, he began to relax.

"This isn't so bad!" He realized.

He ended up doing it for two hours and loved the feeling all over again.

I'm actually doing great! He was excited.

Bunny's string of complaints reached his ears. "Freezing my butt off out here on a frozen lake because NORTH WANTED US TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER…"

Jack laughed. "Shut up, Kangaroo, and you might be able to stay upright!"


	16. What Makes You a Guardian Part 1

**A/N: Title: What Makes You a Guardian Part 1**

**Summary: The other Guardians' thoughts and feelings when MIM picked Jack Frost to become the fifth Guardian. There'll be another part, What Makes You a Guardian Part 2 and also part 3...possibly. Anyway**

* * *

North was shocked at first, but slowly he began to imagine it.

Jack Frost, a Guardian.

Jack Frost, the Guardian of…

Mischief?

Trouble-making?

Everything in between?

North's confidence wavered slightly. Was Jack Frost really fit to be a Guardian?

Tooth could only stare approvingly at that awesome body…

I bet he has perfect, white teeth, she thought dreamily. Er, that's what my fairies tell me. So it's normal to assume his teeth are white. Right?

Well…as long as he helps us protect the children, he's all right in my book.

Sandy was remembering all the times North and Bunny had whined so hard about Jack messing with Christmas Eve or Easter.

The blizzard on Easter, the "accidental" winds that sent Santa down the wrong chimneys where the children or parents were still awake…

Jack was a mischief-maker, wasn't he?

Bunny had already made the decision: Jack Frost wasn't a Guardian. He would never be one of them.

No matter what he did. Even if he helped protect the children, he still was never going to be a Guardian to Bunny. He just WASN'T.

He was trouble-making, he was so relaxed and calm, he was selfish enough to send that gigantic blizzard on Easter…

Bunny found himself gnashing his teeth. Why should he care if Jack was going to become a Guardian? Then Jack would come and help them defend the children and then he'd be out of their fur. Bunny would never bother with him again. Why should he? Jack Frost would never be a Guardian.


	17. What Makes You a Guardian Part 2

**A/N: Title: What Makes You a Guardian Part 2 **

**Summary: Continuation. Possible conversation the other Guardians could have had about Jack before they knew him and when MiM chose him**

**Continuation of What Makes You a Guardian one-shot.**

* * *

"North!" Bunny snapped, shaking Santa out of his reverie. "This boy is not fit to be a Guardian!"

"And why not?"

"Why not?" Bunny was astounded. "Because all he does is create blizzards and mess with my egg hunts! Jack Frost is not a Guardian! No. Freaking. Way."

North just looked at him calmly for a second or two then turned to Tooth. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea," she said warmly. "If it was the Man in the Moon, it's saying we should take it. We should take a chance on him. I have a great feeling about it."

Bunny was stung by this betrayal.

Sandy gave a thumbs-up.

"Fine," Bunny growled. "He will defend against Pitch. And then he goes right back where he came from. To that idiotic frozen lake of his. We're not KEEPING him. You guys are going to regret this. And I will accept your apology."

What is Manny THINKING? He asked himself as he went away.


	18. What Makes You a Guardian Part 3

**A/N: Title: What Makes You a Guardian Part 3 **

**Summary: Conclusion to the 'What Makes You a Guardian' story. North and Bunny have a talk about Jack and also get into an argument about Christmas vs. Easter once again! **

**I don't really know what I was thinking. It was late. **

**I was tired. Heck, I'm still tired.**

* * *

"Jack…" Bunny was sitting in Santa's workshop, holding a platter of cookies while North walked around, frantically making more. It was a week before Christmas, the yetis were working like mad, the elves had accidentally lit one of their number on fire attempting to light up a Christmas tree, and North had chosen this week of all weeks to have a Guardian meeting.

"I just want Christmas to go smoothly," he insisted, taking another tray out of the oven. He took a bite of oatmeal raisin and threw it in the garbage. "Yechhh. Needs more cinnamon. Anyway, Bunny, I don't want Christmas ending up like Easter, now, do I?"

Jack glanced up, looking at Bunny. "Yeah?"

Bunny took a deep breath, set the platter of cookies down and glared at North. "Stop babbling, North. Nobody said Christmas is going to wind up like Easter. Jack, send a blizzard this Christmas Eve, PLEASE."

North eyed Bunnymund coldly as he took the platter from the rabbit's hands. Er, paws.

He set it down on a table with a loud clunk. "Now listen here Bunnymund—

"Is that all you wanted to say to me, Bunnymund?" Jack broke in, having no wish to hear their stupid argument again.

"Yeah," Bunnymund replied, reaching over and stealing a sugar cookie with pink and blue sprinkles from the tray. "These are good, North."

"Hah!" North scoffed. "NOW you are ready to agree on something?"

Bunny glared at him. "Well, seeing as Easter is more important than Christmas and you just don't feel like admitting it…"

"Guys, how about…"

Jack was cut off again as Tooth flew in, looking around. "Where's Sandy?" she asked. "He's normally the first one here."

Sandy floated in just then on a perfect cloud of dreamsand.

"Hey, Sandy!" Jack greeted him.

Sandy waved at them as North smiled.

The Guardian meeting continued like always, but at the end as Jack flew away, Bunny admitted, "You know I was wrong."

"What?" North asked, looking up from his ice toy. "What do you mean? Because Christmas is way more important—

"I'm not talking about Easter being more important than Christmas," Bunny cut in. "I was wrong. When Jack was chosen to be a Guardian, I told you all he wasn't fit to be a Guardian. That we were really going to regret this. I planned on ignoring him until we took care of Pitch and he left, and I could go back to ignoring him in peace. But it didn't work out quite like that, did it?"

North smiled. "No, it didn't."

"In the end, I was completely wrong." Bunny was speaking to the hole he'd just made now. "I was just wondering 'what is Manny thinking?' But he was thinking way deeper than we were. We never gave Jack a second thought. I just wish…I wish we had been there for him. You know? I mean, three hundred years alone…we could've done something. We could've changed that. There's no denying the kid's got issues. We've all got issues. But to be alone for 300 years…I just can't imagine putting a kid through that. And we did. We could've reached out to him but we chose to let him be all alone instead. And knowing…that we could've prevented that just makes me ashamed…you know? And I wish we met him a lot sooner. Maybe we could've stopped. We could've stopped him having this burden of 300 years completely alone. You know?"

North fixed his sapphire-colored eyes on his platter of cookies. "I know what you mean. Sometimes I will look at Jack and think he is twice the Guardian the rest of us are. He never left any kid depressed. He helped children. He brought joy to them.

He didn't openly ignore any of them."

Bunnymund dropped his green eyes. He couldn't believe he was actually feeling inferior to Jack, and even worse – SORRY for him.

But North definitely had a point. Jack was twice the Guardian everyone else was – because he knew what it took to be a Guardian and he knew it wasn't any hard-boiled egg or Christmas gift or quarter under the pillow that kept the childhood innocence alive.

He understood that.

He knew what makes you a Guardian wasn't a dyed egg or even a snowball.

What makes you a Guardian is something deep inside and Manny realized that. And so did Jack.


	19. Warm

**A/N: Title: Warm **

**Summary: Poem. **

**This one's a little confusing unless you speak all these languages, literally every single one but it's a poem I wrote from Jack's point of view using 'warm' in ten different languages.**

**The first is Spanish, the second is French, the third is Portugese, the fourth is Italian, the fifth is Icelandic, the sixth is Croatian, the seventh is Esperanto, the eighth is Swedish, the ninth is Latin, and the tenth is Welsh. **

**I had to check some on Google Translate and I'm not sure how right they are.**

* * *

Caliente,

Chaud,

Quente,

Caldo.

* * *

It's the same in every language,

I just want heat,

To melt this cold, cold heart,

I have been freezing for years.

* * *

It hurts to live like this.

* * *

Heitt,*****

Topao,

Varma,

Varm.

* * *

It's all I want,

Is to not be freezing cold,

I'm sick of this frigid body,

Make me warm again.

* * *

Tepido,

Cynnes,

Make me warm again.

Make me warm again.

* * *

***This is actually the Icelandic word for hot**


	20. Ping-Pong

**A/N: Title: Ping-Pong **

**Summary: Jack doesn't know how to play, so North decides to teach him and somehow Tooth, Bunny and Sandy end up at the Pole. Fluff, humor and family-togetherness ensue. Purely a feel-good type story. **

**This will most likely be part 1 of like, 10 or something LOL. **

* * *

Jack Frost sucked at Ping-Pong.

North found that out the harder way, when Jack came up from exploring North's workshop, his blue eyes twinkling and smiling widely. "North, hey, North!" He called. "Look what I found!"

He realized North was busy and most likely didn't want to be bothered, so when North came into the room, Jack shrugged it off. "It was nothing," he told him.

North eyed him suspiciously, then spotted the armload of Ping-Pong paddles, balls, and net Jack held.

North smiled. "Do you know how to play Ping-Pong? It's a lot of fun."

Jack shook his head shyly. "I don't even think it was around back then."

"It wasn't around when I was human, but I'm good at keeping up with the latest crazes," North replied.

Jack blinked. "North, it was never a craze."

"Bah, well," North replied. "Would you like to learn how to play?"

Jack said shyly, "If you're not too busy making toys, I'd love to learn from you."

North smiled at him, grabbed up a paddle and flagged down the nearest yeti; Jack was strongly reminded of somebody hailing a cab. "Get us Ping-Pong table, now!" He said importantly and the yeti ran downstairs, and next second he and five other fellows were dragging it upstairs, gripping it by the legs and net.

"Careful!" North chastised. "Don't hurt it!"

"Okay, Jack." He said when the yetis were gone. "The point of this game is to do like so…" he served the ball. "Hit it with your paddle after it bounces once…" he hit it. "And then hope to God it bounces on the table on the other side."

"And you hit it back and if it bounces on this side and I miss it, you get a point. If it doesn't hit this side, goes over the table and hits the carpet instead, that makes it that I get a point. Understand?"

"I think so." Jack said, unsure of himself but unwilling to show it.

North served the ball, it bounced on Jack's side and Jack hit it back with too much eagerness, causing it to soar over the table on North's side and hit the carpet.

"One to zip, my favor," North said happily. "We can play up to five, seven, ten or fifteen. Any number you want."

"Seven is fine." Jack said. "I have a feeling I'm gonna need it."

"Very well." North served the ball again, hit it. It hit Jack's side, he hit it gentler this time and it didn't even clear the net.

Jack sighed. "Sorry about that."

"Is fine," North replied impatiently.

Jack served the ball, it made it over the net (barely) and North hit it back.

Jack missed the thing entirely, sighed and said, "Three to zilch, then?"

"Yep," North said, but his happiness was interrupted by Bunnymund, who'd just come up from out of a rabbit hole. "North, I wanted to tell you…something weird…I saw…down in my Warren…"

He trailed off, staring between them. "What are you doing, Frostbite?"

"North was teaching me how to play Ping-Pong," Jack said.

Bunny rolled his green eyes. "If you want to learn, Jack, learn from the master!"

"I AM master!" North said, affronted.

Bunny snorted. "Right. Yeah. Tell you what, let's play a game here, right now and we'll see who's master."

"Me and Jack were in the middle of a game," North said, not looking sorry at all to have missed this opportunity to be shown up by Bunnymund. He was like Jack in that way: he knew Bunny was better than he was at Ping-Pong, but his ego got the better of him.

"Fine," Bunny said. "I'll play afterwards, then, how about?"

"Well, I'd like to see you try, Kangaroo."

"Never mind that now, what weird thing did you see down at your Warren?"

"Oh," Bunny said. "That. Well, actually, I feel kinda stupid, because it wasn't anything big, it was…" he then launched into a story about some flowers and Dreamsand, Jack not really paying attention but North listening to every word. "I see," he said when Bunny was finished. "Is nothing to worry about, I am sure. Let us keep going, Jack, shall we?"

North served this time and Jack flinched away from the ball.

Bunnymund sighed, watching the kid. 'He's pathetic,' Bunny thought to himself. 'He's the worst player I've ever seen!'

"Five to zip, my favor," North crowed happily.

Jack served and it hit the net. "Six to zip."

"Five," North corrected him. "We don't count bad serves. We call a re-serve, then."

"Oh, okay," Jack realized. He took the ball from North and served again. It was only slightly better than last time, because it cleared the net. Nonetheless, North returned it fairly well and Jack returned it back to him.

They kept up a short volley until Jack panicked and snatched the ball from the table before it could bounce.

"Six to zilch," he announced.

"North? North?" Tooth's voice echoed around the North Pole, and Jack said, "Tooth!" He cheerfully threw down his paddle and ran to greet her.

Bunnymund picked up Jack's abandoned paddle and studied it carelessly. "Would you like to play against me, North?"

"Bring it on, Bunnymund," North said with a wildly cocky air.

Bunny brought it on. He served the ball and slammed it against the table as though he wanted to see it die slowly on the plastic white line. North barely managed to duck before it hit the wall, leaving a ball-shaped dent, bounced back on the table and Bunny leaned over and agilely caught it. "One to zilch, my favor."

"Foul!" North argued as Jack and Tooth walked back in.

"How do your teeth stay so white?" Tooth asked. "I mean, I guess you brushed as a human sure, but Jack, you're 300 years old and I don't think they had toothbrushes or toothpaste or anything back then, it's kind of cool the way you're the one with white teeth, it kind of completes the look, don't you think? White skin, white hair, white teeth? It's really sort of…oh, are you guys playing Ping-Pong? We didn't mean to interrupt. Can I have the next turn? Please?"

Jack chuckled at her straight-forwardness.

"Sure," Bunnymund told her.

"Foul!" North cried again.

"Oh, shut up, North, I can't help it that you're a sore loser."

"Who fouled?" Jack asked, only vaguely interested.

"Bunny," North said.

"Bunny, stop fouling," Jack said.

"Wh—I wasn't—ugh!"

The game began again and North took care to avoid where Bunny might throw the ball through a wall again.

"Okay, that is seven to five, North. Want to go to ten?"

"No," he told Bunny grumpily. "I'm alright, thank you."

Bunny grinned. "Alright, Tooth, get up here."

Tooth leaped up from her chair. "Okay. Bring it on, Bunny!"

"You do not want to say that," North warned.

Bunny made another serve like the first one he'd done to North and Tooth hit it back. It bounced on the side of the table, leaving the bunny to stare at the girl. "How come you never…how come I never…?" He trailed off.

Tooth giggled. "I'm good. Better than you think, Bunnymund."

Just then, Sandy wandered in, an image of North and then himself above his head.

"Sandy wants to talk to me, guys," North said. "Will be right back." They went to a backroom and Jack said, "What're they talking about?"

Bunny shrugged. "Alright, c'mon, Tooth."

Five minutes later, Bunny was giving up his paddle with an abashed look and Tooth was celebrating her fifth point. "I rock!" she cried, spinning around. She bashed into the wall, fixed her top feathers and fluttered back down to sit actually on top of the Ping-Pong table.

When North and Sandy came back, Sandy's eyes landed on the Ping-Pong table and the golden irises lit up.

"Do you play?" Jack asked, not missing the look of longing Sandy threw in the table's direction.

"No, he doesn't," Bunny said.

"He's unbeatable," Tooth said.

"Unstoppable," Bunny said.

"Impossible to beat," North added.

Jack chuckled. "Alright, well, go on. Let's see Mr. Unbeatable in action, shall we?"

Sandy picked up a paddle, wiped it on his golden sleeve, then making swings at imaginary balls.

Tooth served and Sandy smacked it so hard Tooth barely had time to swing her paddle before it hit the table then the floor.

She sighed. "One to zilch, Sandy's favor. As usual."

Jack laughed. "That was pretty good."

Sandy did it six more times throughout the course of the game until he'd won, seven to nil.

North suggested Jack play, but Jack put his foot down.

"I suck," he told them. "North saw me play, I'm awful."

"Wasn't bad," North said, trying to be tactful.

"He was pathetic," Bunny said happily. 'God, I can't wait to mock him.'

Jack mouthed something he would never have dared say out loud, then turned away.

Bunny picked up his paddle and said, "C'mon, guys, it's time for me face Unbeatable Sandy."

Sandy smiled and picked up his own paddle, then did another wild serve.


	21. Losing Jack

**A/N: Title: Losing Jack**

**Summary: The poem of Jack's memories, but from his sister's point of view.**

* * *

His eyes locked on me,

His voice telling me not to look down,

Just look at him,

Trying to calm me

* * *

It will not work,

Doesn't he get that?

We are both surely dying,

And I don't want to die.

* * *

I don't want to lose my goofy older brother,

And I don't want to lose my life.

I want to get out of here,

I want to go HOME.

* * *

But soon I will be far away,

Where home cannot reach me,

Sleeping beneath ice,

Drowning.

* * *

He tells me calmly,

Not to look down,

And that we're going to play hopscotch,

Like we play every day.

* * *

But every day is not,

Today.

Every day is not,

A struggle to survive, to never fall through…right?

* * *

He takes one, two, then three steps,

At least my brother is safe,

But I don't want to die,

Now that I know he is going to live.

* * *

So I muster up my courage,

And take one small step forward,

Then another.

He mumbles along with me,

* * *

As I attempt to get to him.

But the trouble is,

My steps aren't big enough,

I'm going to fall through.

* * *

But then he saves me,

By the end of his hooked staff,

And now he is sleeping under ice,

I have lost my brother Jack.


	22. Beautiful

**A/N: Title: Beautiful**

**Summary: Jack wants beauty so he doesn't have to face the ugly truth... **

**Done off the prompt 'stars'. I got off-topic :P But it's less than 100 words and has no dialogue! Should I be proud or disappointed...?**

* * *

The stars are infinite. They are never-ending and beautiful. They are sad, because you cannot reach them. Jack knew how it felt to stare up at a world of stars and feel very small and insignificant. He knew how it felt to wish he could fly up to the stars and take one right out of the sky, so he could have a star with him always, so it would give him confidence and happiness, so he would remember what was important.


	23. Ice

**A/N: Title: Ice**

**Summary: Jack wants to be like ice, because ice doesn't ever get lonely. Ice just sits there. Angsty drabble, from Jack's POV. Yeah, I had bad feelings about 'Life of Echoes' so I took it down. Sorry! I might repost later...:D **

* * *

I wish I could be more like ice. Because if you're like ice, you're cold. You're smooth and white and uncaring. You are detached. You are cold and you are perfectly fine.

I am like ice. But someone left me out in the sun and so now I'm thawing. I wish somebody would pick me up and freeze me right over again, so I didn't have to care.

Ice doesn't care. Ice just sits there, frozen and sparkling and perfect, white and smooth and detached. I wish I could be more like that.

So this constant aloneness wouldn't hurt as much.


	24. Porcelain Doll

**A/N: Porcelain Doll**

**Summary: Jack sees a porcelain doll alone and that it's been abandoned, just like him. Inspired by the prompt 'abandoned'. **

* * *

Once, Jack had been walking by a house and saw a girl walk out of it. He'd given that girl plenty of snow days and stuff with her friends, but she'd never believed in him, either. That's okay, he told himself. I'm almost used to it, anyway.

Jack was about to keep going when he spotted a doll in the girl's hands. She was about thirteen or fourteen, far too old to be playing with dolls. Yet she clutched a doll in her hands, its porcelain white face turned towards Jack, the doll's blue eyes wide, unfeeling and unseeing.

Jack stopped to watch her as she stopped at the end of the driveway with the doll and as she did a sudden wind ruffled her dark hair.

She looked up and Jack did, too, and gray clouds came on the horizon. It was going to storm soon, Jack realized.

The girl pinned a sign to the doll's dress and set the doll down by the mailbox and Jack looked at it, overcome with sympathy.

The doll's chestnut brown curls spilled over a green dress with a few paintings of fruit and the sign on her dress read 'free' as the girl went back inside.

Jack knelt down next to the doll, picked it up and carried it off with him, purely because he didn't want it to have sit through the storm and because it had been abandoned.


	25. Useless

**A/N: Title: Useless**

**Summary: Conversation between Jack Frost and the spirit of spring, Genevieve Bloom. Genevieve Bloom is a name I picked out of the hat and you can find out more about her in 'An Unforgettable Valentine's Day' one of my other RotG stories. Sorry about this chap, I just had to address a fact that no one else does: if Jack isn't around to make more snow, then the earth will do it on its own! Technically, Jack isn't needed...I had to do that...make Jack feel like a little crapbucket. **

* * *

"Why can't you just go bother someone else with your snow?"

"Relax. It won't even stick, Genevieve."

Jack Frost and Genevieve Bloom stood across from each other, Genevieve glaring and Jack smiling.

Genevieve shook out her long, dark brown hair. "Why do you bother? You're useless, that's what you are!"

The smile dropped off Jack's face and his blue eyes turned cold. "What? I'll have you know winter is very important!"

"Yes, it's so important to kill people," Genevieve snapped. "Look around you, Jack Frost! Even Mother Nature realizes how unimportant you are! If you're not around to make snow, she does!"

Jack glared at her and opened his mouth to speak.

"You're useless!" And with that, Genevieve stomped away, cooing to her flowers. "Don't bother with him, my pretties. I'll plant you in a place where you can bloom again…"


	26. Doctors Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 26: Doctors Part 1**

**Summary: What if there was a doctor who treats Guardians and spirits, like Pitch and North? And any spirit or Guardian who had a medical problem could just go to him? North asks Jack if he's ever seen this doctor and when Jack says no, North sees it as a personal challenge to get him to go. But will the visit work out? Or will it be one big disaster? Inspired by my sister, who was writing her own Rise of the Guardians story. She mentioned something about a doctor that North was seeing and I was thinking, 'Doctor. Doctors can't see the Guardians. Doctors, doctor, Guardian doctor. Ooh...Guardian Doctor?'**

**In other news, you might see my sister joining the fandom very soon! :D I'm slowly but surely reeling her in with my constantly quoting Pitch's lines and occasionally, Jack's and Bunny's, too. **

* * *

I wonder, North thought, gazing at Jack. He doubted it, seriously, but why not give it a go?

"Hey, Jack?" he called as the Guardian meeting broke up. "Have you ever been to the doctor?"

"What?" Jack asked. "Um, no, my time was a little before doctors. We had a village healer, though, does that count?"

"No, no, you misunderstand me," North said, smiling. "I mean, the actual doctor? After you became the winter spirit? Like, whenever you got injured?"

"Um, no?" Jack said. "I mean, seeing as no one could see me and those who could see me utterly despised me I didn't think that would be a good idea."

"Then I think it's time you get a check-up," North said.

"What? Why? And newsflash, doctors can't see me!"

"This one can." North promised him.

"How?" Jack crossed his arms.

"He can because he's a spirit, just like us! He's the Doctor, the one who treats everything from Guardians to the Groundhog!"

"So he can see us?" Jack tilted his head to the side.

"Yep." North said. "So it's settled. I'm taking you in for a check-up soon, what time will your schedule allow?"

"North…no really, I don't need this—

"Shut up," North told him. "Yes, you do."

"I can take care of myself," Jack pointed out.

"You shouldn't have to," North pointed out. Silence.

"That being said, I'm taking you tomorrow."

"What?"


	27. Doctors Part 2

**A/N: WARNING: DO NOT SKIP: THERE *IS* TALK OF SELF-INJURY IN THIS CHAPTER. BE WARNED AND READ ON IF IT DOESN'T BOTHER YOU. **

* * *

"Listen, Jack, this is for your own good, alright?"

"We already have a dentist in our midst," Jack grumbled. "Why do we need a doctor?"

They had to fill out a chart with Jack's name, age, some of his powers and things.

"Alright, age…Jack, how old are you?"

Jack's brow knitted for a second. "Sixteen. Yes. Three hundred and sixteen."

North just looked at him.

"I died at sixteen."

After a few more minutes, North said, "Powers: making snow, summoning the wind, irritating yetis, breaking rules, annoying Bunnymund. Think I got everything?"

Jack looked over. "Oh, c'mon, you don't even need to be me to annoy the yetis. They're so easy to annoy."

A few minutes later, the doctor called Jack in.

He was a dark-haired young man with pure white wings poking out behind his back and a bright smile in his face, sparkles playing in his blue eyes who sat Jack down on a metal table.

Jack muttered something under his breath, but sat through the check-up: X-rays, temperature, the lot.

"Alright, now, Jack, all I ask is that you take your hoodie off."

"Why?" Jack asked, instantly suspicious.

"I wanted to take another X-ray for your back, chest and side and the hoodie is thick enough to hinder the X-rays."

Jack fiddled with one of the strings. "So why don't you just try your best to not let my hoodie hinder them?"

"Please don't be difficult, Jack," he said.

"Well, no," Jack argued. "I'm not taking it off."

North just put a hand on his head. "I'm very sorry about him," he apologized. "He can be a bit stubborn, you know children…"

Jack glared at North as the doctor smiled. "Oh, do I."

Jack crossed his arms. "I'm not taking it off. We can do the X-rays with it on or not at all."

"Why are you being so difficult?" North asked him a few minutes later, when the doctor conceded and they were setting up the equipment.

"None of anybody's business," Jack snapped and turned away as the X-ray machine came closer to him.

"Alright, just relax, and lean against the machine."

Jack leaned back against it, and there were several 'click-click' sounds before the doctor said, "Alright, you can lean up."

Jack leaned back up and North caught sight of something as his sleeve pulled up: a thin, pink scar on the inside of his wrist, barely noticeable in the dark room, but vivid against his pale skin.

"Alright, now lean forward."

North quickly averted his eyes. That's why Jack put up such a fight, he thought. Because he doesn't want anybody to see that…

"Alright, now shoot your staff here." The doctor pointed at a small sheet of glass on the opposite wall.

"Why?"

"So I can see if your powers are working okay."

Jack shot a small stream of ice at the wall of glass. "That good enough?"

"Yeah, everything seems to be in working order."

The moment they were out of the doctor's office and walking back in the bright sunlight, North said, "Jack? May I ask you about something?"

"Mmm?"

"When you were being X-rayed, your sleeve came up a bit…and I saw…something on your wrist." He took Jack's hand and gently pulled the sleeve up. Jack was about to pull away when North slowly traced the scar with his finger. "Why didn't you ever tell anyone this before? Are there more?"

"Stay out of this, North."

"Are there more?"

"North—

"Answer me."

"Fine!" Jack jumped into the sleigh and sat, arms crossed, speaking through clenched teeth. "Yeah. There are."

"Jack—

"I don't want to hear it."

"I'm trying to help you!"

"THAT'S WHAT PITCH TOLD ME!"

"How could you ever think I would treat you like him?"

"Oh, I don't know," Jack snorted sarcastically. "We should never have trusted you!'" He mimicked the bunny's Australian accent down to a tee. "That ring any bells?"

North took his hands off the reins and simply sat in the sleigh, looking at him.

"Just get us out of here, North." Jack's voice was thick and with a shock, North realized the winter spirit was crying.

"Jack…" He reached out and rested a hand on Jack's shoulder. He tried not to let it show how much it hurt when Jack flinched away from his touch.

"How long has it been going on?"

"What, this?" Jack asked through his tears, pointing at his pale wrist, the scars peeking out from under the soft blue sleeve. "For about a hundred years. It didn't help much."

They rode on through the clear blue sky in silence, one hand still resting on Jack's shoulder.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, I know. It was dramatic and stuff. It was hopelessly cheesy, the doctor got on your nerves, North was not what you expected and Jack was too angry. Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites! I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw I'd hit 50 reviews, 44 favorites and 57 follows! I honestly didn't expect that much! My Rise of the Guardians stories aren't terribly popular, because that's only 40% of what I write. The remaining 60% is devoted to How to Train Your Dragon and upon occasion, some random fandom I get inspired to write for. Anyway, I'm really sorry for how bad this chapter is! I just wanted it to be North who found out first, though I considered Bunny...Also, you know chapter 25, Useless? That was also inspired by a prompt, though I had the idea before I saw the prompt. But whoever gives the prompts should seriously see Rise of the Guardians, because their picture for that prompt (write a conversation between winter and spring) showed spring like a jolly blonde man with flowers in his hair and winter looked like a half-dead tree. **


	28. Doctors Part 3

**Chapter 28: Doctors Part 3**

**This chapter was originally 'Lonely Winter Spirits' but I took it down until I could post this. I didn't want to leave the 'Doctors' arc incomplete. Yeah, so Lonely Winter Spirits might get put back up. **

**Anyway, this isn't really that good. I'm exhausted and I'm looking forward to diving into bed and either A. listening to music or B. writing some more! :D don't think I'm going to do Plan B, as this chapter turned out very stupid and angsty and dramatic and :P ughhhh. I wasn't very fond of the last chapter either. :( **

**I'm really beginning to HATE MY STORIES. I'm a terrible writer! At least I feel that way! Maybe I'll go eat a gallon of ice cream and then go to bed... **

* * *

North rested a hand on Jack's arm. "Are you alright?"

Jack wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I'm fine."

North put his arms around Jack and crushed him to the man in a warm embrace. "I know you're not."

Jack willed himself not to cry as North pulled away, studying the young man's face. Eventually, he raised a thick gray eyebrow and murmured, "Jack, I…I don't think you should do this."

"Do what?"

"I don't think you should be alone anymore."

"What do you mean? I'm not alone…I've got Jamie and I've got Sophie."

It broke North's heart that Jack didn't mention them. "Jack, we're here for you, too. All of us. Tooth, Bunny, Sandy and I. You're not alone anymore."

Jack glanced at him, distrust lurking in his gaze.

"Trust me."

Jack slumped against North's furry red coat, clinging onto him in a childish hug.

"I want you to trust me and to live with me."

"What?" The last part came completely out of left field.

"I want you to trust me, and live with me," North repeated steadily. His sapphire blue eyes never left Jack's face.

"Um…" Jack hesitated, still not sure if this was real or Sandman was giving him a hell of a good dream that had started out really badly. "Uh…are you sure? I mean, in case you haven't noticed, I freeze elves, I distract the yetis, I…no, I'd better…no, I'd just get in the way…"

"Jack, I don't care," North said fiercely. "What I do care about is you. And I want you to live with me."

Jack hesitated for a few seconds more.

"You don't have to make a decision now," North added. "You can take a few days to think about it."

Jack slowly fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve…was North really offering this, or was it a cruel joke? He took a deep breath. "Alright. I'll think about it."

Two weeks later, North and Jack sat in his workshop, a block of pure white ice and a chainsaw on the desk between them.

"I'm so glad you decided to live with me, my boy," North said, smiling.

Jack grinned mischievously, the dimple showing in his cheek. "Well, Bunny's daily visits from you were starting to get a little annoying."

North rolled his eyes. "Sit down. I've got plenty of rooms for you, you can pick whichever one you like. Go, pick one out."

As Jack got to his feet, North stood. "One more thing."

"Mmm?"

"You will never have to be alone again. I swear it."

* * *

**A/N: Augh, this got cheesier than a double cheese pizza**


	29. Cursed Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 29: Cursed Part 1 **

**Since I finished the 'Doctors' arc, I might as well start a new one. More North/Jack father/son! :D Yeah...everybody ships Bunny/Jack, Tooth/Jack and even Sandy/Jack as a couple, but North/Jack is purely a father/son ship. That's weird...not as weird as...well, never mind, I suppose nobody can get weirder than me...**

***coughs* Tooth/Jack *coughs* Bunny/Genevieve *coughs* *coughs* Heck, I ship Bunny with everyone! EXCEPT TOOTH. In my opinion, they'd be a train wreck! No offense to anybody who ships them, I just personally feel they'd have their sweet moments, but it'd be mostly fights...**

**Also, there's a scene in here...it's part of the...thing...**

* * *

"You're looking too pale, Jack," Tooth said worriedly at the end of the Guardian meeting.

Little did she know my stomach was doing flip-flops. "I…uh…well, yeah, I am the spirit of winter," I said confidently, or at least that's the tone I was going for. "The only other color my skin could be is blue…I mean, I could be African-American but once I'd become Jack Frost I'd probably still have turned paler…"

I was rambling now and I knew it as all the Guardians just looked at me.

"Yes…I guess," North mumbled and said, "Jack, would you stay behind so I could talk to you for a second?"

Anything to prolong it. I nodded and as the others flew out the door, Tooth called, "I hope you feel better soon!"

"Um, so what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked nervously.

"You look so restless and scared all the time, Jack. Like you except to come face to face with your worst fear."

The analogy made the lump in my throat hard to swallow. "Oh. Well, I'm fine."

"Jack, be honest with me."

I sighed, studying his wooden floor angrily. "It's nothing. I'll get better. I'll make sure I will."

North just kept looking at me as I went to the window.

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, I was thinking one more snowfall before I let spring take over," I told him.

North's eyebrows were drawn down. "Jack, I don't like the look of you. You look so scared and restless all the time and I want to help you." He walked over and rested a hand on my shoulder. "I really do just want to help you. Please talk to me."

I avoided his sapphire blue gaze. "North, I—

"Jack."

"I can't tell you." I shook him off and flew out the window, ignoring his cry of 'Jack!' as I left.

I flew down to Pitch's lair, landing on a frozen lake and readying myself for the battle. Suddenly, the ice cracked from one side to the other and the cool surface slid out from underneath my feet, abandoning me to the icy water below.

Oh, God it was happening again. I was drowning.

Terrified, I thrashed around in the water, forgetting I could easily freeze the water around me.

Oh, please get me out of this. I don't want to die this way.

Please.

Fear coursed through me, but I couldn't find the power to drag my sodden limbs out of the water and onto the nearby iceberg…

And then my head hit something hard and cold and everything started going black.

* * *

I woke up a few hours later at the North Pole with a heavy head and an iced-over hoodie.

Oh, sure, I could freeze the water on me but I couldn't freeze the water around me? Typical.

Suddenly, the door opened and North walked in, carrying medical tape, gauze pads and bandages.

He sighed, then seemed to spot me. "Jack! You're awake!" He smiled, then called for a yeti.

The yeti grunted something to him and North said, "Fix me a bowl of cold water. Quickly."

When the yeti arrived with the bowl of water, North set it down on the table beside my bed and whispered, "Why were you trying to drown yourself in the lake right outside Pitch's lair?"

"I wasn't attempting to drown myself!" I say defensively. "I was trying to get into Pitch's lair, because of his stupid curse, everything went to hell in a hand basket! Oh and feel like telling me how I got here?"

North paused for a second. "Jack, you don't have to lie to me."

I sat up, causing the gumball red walls to tilt. "I'm not lying! Why are you assuming I was trying to—?"

"Shh. Lay down." He gently shoved me back down, dipped a cloth in the ice water and gently began cleaning my head.

When he pulled the rag away, I saw it was dark red from dried blood.

My pale fingers flew to my head, feeling for the injury.

"Relax," he said. "I'm taking care of you."

Those words – _I'm taking care of you _– they hadn't been said to me for such a long time.

I sighed as he kept cleaning the wound and finally he let the cloth drop back into the bowl and took out the gauze pads and medical tape.

"I don't need those," I said dismissively. "I heal fast."

"Obviously not." He replied and began dressing the wound anyway.

I sighed.

"Now do you feel like telling me why you were trying to—

"I wasn't trying to drown myself!" I said angrily.

He nodded. "Jack—

"No, North, just—

"Jack. Listen to me." He rested a hand on my shoulder. The touch felt warm and comforting. "I believe you. Just…why were you outside Pitch's lair?"

"Because I was trying to get to him."

"Why?"

"I wanted him to lift the curse."

"Curse?"

"He did something to me right before the battle on Easter or maybe during it because it's like I'm cursed! Every time at around three o' clock in the afternoon, I see something I'm scared of." I swallowed. "I want to be un-cursed. So I'm trying to find him."

North nodded understandingly. "Are you sure it was Pitch?"

"North, something I fear? Of course it's Pitch!" I glanced out the window at the setting sun. "His lair…"

"What?"

"That day, the day of Easter a few weeks ago, when it was destroyed? Pitch could have done it then! I was right there the entire time, right in his lair!"

"What were you doing in his lair?"

It was like Easter all over again. "Oh, no, North, you see – I'd heard my sister calling out to me. I didn't know it was her, but I knew the voice. I followed it and came to Pitch's lair. I went inside it and Pitch was…just saying…things…" I decided not to say all that had been said, but he caught my hesitation. "What things?"

"Just stuff." I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up. "I feel better, now. Thanks, North." Unfortunately, I spoke too soon, eager to change the subject, because those dark red walls once again began moving.

I put a hand on my head. "Whoa…"

"Easy there, Jack," North warned me, slowly pushing me back in bed. "We don't want you to go out there again."

"But I'm fine!" I protested. "I want to go—

"Shh." He put a finger on my lips. "If anyone's going after Pitch, it's gonna be me." His bright blue eyes turned dark.


	30. Black Ice

**A/N: Chapter 30: Black Ice**

**This isn't a shipping drabble. It's purely for a bit of Jack Frost angst. Sorryyy about interrupting an arc but I literally couldn't think of a way to continue it. Seeing as it's in Jack's POV, you don't get to see North interrogating and beating Pitch like the crazy Russian man he is :) Also, I'm opening a poll on my page in a few days asking people what story they want to see from me next! Please vote whenever you can! Mostly it's How to Train Your Dragon and Rise of the Guardians stories...**

* * *

It was nearly invisible.

Transparent as glass, yet dangerous as its name implied.

And Jack Frost couldn't get rid of it.

Deadly, dangerous, it killed people and injured many others. It sent cars spinning off the road in a way Jack did not. Only one thing, only one person, could have been behind it…black ice.

Black ice was a little-known wonder of the world. (If you could call it that).

It was known to drivers as a danger and Jack Frost could not get rid of it, no matter how hard he tried.

Because, try as he might not to believe it, black ice was a part of winter, too. Jack couldn't MELT ice. He could stop letting snow fall.

But he couldn't ever stop making winter when he was tired of being cold. He couldn't switch to spring when he longed for warmth, to summer when he longed for heat.

Much as he hated it, black ice was a part of winter, too and he couldn't melt it.

Day after day, patches of black ice appeared on the road. Cars went whizzing off the pavement. People and families were endangered.

Close calls were made. And sometimes…well, sometimes, people died.

And those days, Jack fought harder to melt the black ice. But much as he hated it, he couldn't. There always has been and always will be a darker side to cold.


	31. The Irony of Bracelets

**Chapter 31: The Irony of Bracelets **

**This is set after the 'Doctors' arc, like, three weeks after. So...yeah...*slides back into cold, dark corner where I can write my angsty fanfics in peace* Also, I already interrupted the 'Cursed' arc once. How about we leave it a one-shot since I have no idea where to take it, hmmm? **

* * *

North had given Jack a rubber bracelet a week after he moved in with him.

"North, what's this for?" Jack asked, fiddling with it.

North slowly pushed up the sleeve of Jack's hoodie so the bracelet rested against a faded, pink scar. "It might help you."

"With what?" Jack asked. It was pale blue in color and was an awareness bracelet for self-injury.

"Sometimes," North hesitated, "people who…do…that…" he pointed at Jack's wrist. He wasn't quite sure what to call it, to put it into words Jack wouldn't be hurt with. "…sometimes, if they get the urge to…ever…well…go back to it…then…well, they do. And if you cause yourself less pain and something that doesn't leave a scar or draw blood…that's better for you."

"So…?"

"Every time you feel like injuring yourself, you can snap the bracelet against your wrist. It'll sting, but your mind will focus on the pain of the stinging, not the fact that you want to cut."

"Hmm," Jack muttered. He wasn't quite sure he liked North knowing one of his biggest secrets, but the man had been incredibly supportive and gentle throughout it. The one thing was that North had been very careful to throw anything sharp (short of his chainsaw or something similar) away.

It was nice, though, feeling cared for like this. It was almost like having a second chance at the family he'd lost.

And as Jack began thinking of that, he glanced down at the bracelet, with the built-in words, 'Self-Mutilation Awareness' written on and thought of the irony of the bracelet.

They used to be bracelets of shame, encircling his wrists. Now there was one bracelet, a pale blue one, warning against the shameful scars.

Oh, the irony of bracelets.


	32. Cursed Part 2

**Chapter 32: Cursed Part 2**

**I'm sorry, guys...I just felt so guilty about interrupting an arc, I had to finish it...Anyway, glad I got this written, I seriously didn't think I was gonna finish this arc! I also notice more people read 'The Irony of Bracelets' than 'Black Ice.' Did you guys really like the self-injury arc or did you guys think Black Ice was Pitch x Jack? I do ship Pitch and Jack, just not romantically, more like friends, but I'm not letting my ships - romantic or otherwise - find their ways into this story, with the obvious exception of North/Jack father/son**

**Also, does anybody know how to work polls? I posted that one I was talking about, but it AIN'T COMING UP! I even checked the 'yes' box on the question 'would you like to display this poll on your profile?' and it still AIN'T WORKING! ugh! please review if you know what I'm doing wrong or if you want to see something for a next chapter - try to keep it T rated, please! **

* * *

When North came back, the sound of his thumping boots on the hardwood flooring woke me.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then shoved a lock of hair away from my face. "So? What happened?"

North sat down, picked up the pale blue rag I'd neglected to keep on my forehead and dunked it back in the cold water.

For awhile, all we did was sit in silence as he withdrew the rag, picked up his sword and began cleaning it. I noticed it was stained with black blood and dirt.

I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak.

North forestalled me by speaking first. "Don't worry, Jack. Pitch won't bother you ever again. Okay?"

"Did you get him to lift the curse?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, yes," North nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes, I was very…persuasive." He paused in his cleaning as he chose his choice of wording.

I said quietly, "North, you do realize you didn't have to do all that…for me…"

"I know I didn't have to," North replied. "I wanted to. Because he hurt you. He hurt you, Jack, and he's not allowed to do that anymore. No one is allowed to touch a hair on your head with the intent to harm anymore while I'm here."

* * *

**A/N: Again, cheesier than a double cheese pizza. This story actually came to me when I was really bored. I was role-playing something random a few nights ago and I was being North and Jack since no one else was around to nab and force into submission***

***politely beg to make them role play with me**

**Anyway, I was doing it by myself and North ended up saying something like, 'he hurt you, Jack, and he's not allowed to.' So that got inserted into a fanfic :) Also, North didn't kill Pitch or anything. "You can't kill FEAR", readers. Anyway, I've quoted my Pitch line for the day and I'm reallyyy tired. I'm thinking of going to bed. Also, getting a sweatshirt. It's cold and the fan is running over my computer desk...**


	33. Bayushki Bayu

**Chapter 33: Bayushki Bayu **

**This was done off the prompt 'lullaby.' The moment I saw the word, I was like NORTH/JACK FATHER/SON! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! And I couldn't resist xD I do not own the song North sings in this song, but I have no idea who the real artist is. 'Bayushki Bayu' is literally a phrase meant to lull a child to sleep at night. I did the research. I looked up some Russian stuff. Oh, yeah, I'm learning Russian over the summer! xD xD I already know a swear word xD Also, I'm going to TRY to learn Latin...but that might fail.**

* * *

Jack was wide awake.

It wasn't a problem. Jack was an energized boy and loved running, playing, flying, basically anything athletic. The problem was, not that Jack was wide awake and completely wired, but that it was almost midnight.

Jack was protesting as North was sending him upstairs. "I'm not tired, North."

"I'll be up in a second to say good night," North replied.

Jack pretended to deeply dislike the fact that North tucked him in every night, but the truth was, he really liked it. It made him feel like a little kid again, as full of hope and wonder as he had been when he was a six year old kid, not yet used to the impurities and wrongdoings of the world. Not yet used to pain.

He crawled onto the bed and thought for a few minutes about North and his new home here at the Pole, however temporary it might be.

North came huffing and puffing up the stairs. "Okay, Jack. All ready for bed? Good." He smiled and reached over to tuck the blankets around the boy.

"I'm not tired," protested Jack again.

"You'll get tired."

"No, I won't."

North sighed and suggested, "How about a bedtime story?"

"North, I'm three hundred, not five."

"So you don't believe in bedtime stories?"

"Or lullabies."

"Okay. That's it. I'm showing you that they work."

Jack laughed a little. "What are they, the Guardians of—?"

"Hush," North chastised.

Jack leaned on his elbows as North said, "Lullaby or story?"

"Oh, c'mon, I don't need this. I was just kidding—

"Obviously, you do," North said. "Now hush."

As Jack reluctantly lay back down, North began to sing in a clear, deep, soulful voice. _"Sleep, good boy, my beautiful. Bayushki bayu."_

Jack looked up. "What is this, a—?"

"Shh." North put a finger on his lips and continued the song.

"_Quietly, the moon is looking into your cradle. I will tell you fairy tales and sing you little songs,_

_But you must slumber, with your eyes closed. Bayushki bayu."_

Silence. North glanced down to make sure Jack wasn't mocking him.

Jack was laying down, innocent blue eyes open wide, waiting to hear the rest.

"_The time will come, then you will learn,_

_The pugnacious life. Boldly, you'll stem your foot into the stirrup,_

_And take the gun._

_The saddle-cloth for your battle horse, I will sew you from silk._

_Sleep now, my dear little child,_

_Bayushki bayu." _

Jack's eyes were closed and a sweet smile threatened at the corners of his lips.

"_You will look like a hero,_

_And be a Cossack deep in your heart," _continued North.

"_I will hurry to accompany you, _

_You will just wave your hand._

_How many bitter tears,_

_Will I shed that night! _

_Sleep, my angel, calmly, sweetly,_

_Bayushki bayu." _

He glanced down at Jack again, who was now sleeping peacefully, snuggled closer to North in sleep.

North stopped the song and leaned down and whispered in his ear, "_Bayushki bayu." _

He turned to walk away and Jack suddenly reached up and gripped his arm.

"Yes?" he turned back around and saw Jack, looking sleepy, eyes half-open, hair a mess as he whispered, "I love you, dad."

North's eyes widened. "I…I love you, too…son." He leaned down and carefully hugged Jack tightly.

Jack went limp against him and North heard him breathing deeply and evenly, having fallen asleep in North's arms.


	34. Broken Glass

**A/N: Chapter 34: Broken Glass**

**WHAT THE BLEEP? HOW THE HECK DID THE PROMPT 'GLASS' TURN OUT SO PAINFULLY CHEESY AND ANGSTY AND...UGH :P I actually liked the idea behind this, though, so I left it as is. **

**Also, poll! XD My poll went through and is up on my page, waiting for votes! Please...vote... :D **

* * *

It was the sound that made North wonder.

It wasn't the sound of shattering glass that bothered him out of his work; it was the complete silence that followed.

North waited to hear Jack's laughter in delight as he broke something else.

No sounds.

North hurriedly got up and walked hurriedly up the short flight of stairs, telling himself he was being stupid, that Jack was probably fine.

All the same, he opened the door to check on him.

He found broken shards of glass littering the floor, shards of the mirror.

North leaned down to see them. Bright blue eyes gazed back at him, eyes full of wonder.

He lifted his eyes to Jack, who was standing there completely frozen, gazing in horror at the broken glass.

"Jack?"

Jack quickly snapped out of it. "Oh! North. H-hi. Didn't see you there. I…I…I…I'll…I'll c-clean it up."

He bent down to pick up the broken glass, his movements jerky and robotic.

"Jack?" repeated North curiously. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing!" Jack replied quickly. "I'd…just…better…g-go downstairs and g-get a trash bag. B-be right back, North!" His voice grew slightly stronger and he strode out of the room, back to his easy grace, though there was still a slight quiver of fear in his voice North couldn't ignore.

He sat there as he heard the sounds of Jack thumping down the stairs. Now why would Jack act that way? He thought to himself. It was strange, very strange and North was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Jack?" he called as the teen reappeared, a white trash bag clutched in his slightly trembling hands.

"Y-yeah?" Jack quickly bent down, trying to hide his face, North assumed. He began picking up the broken glass quickly, seeming not to care if the glass cut him.

"Jack…." North put a hand on his wrist, preventing him from getting any farther. "What happened? How did the glass break? Why did you react so badly?"

Jack gave a shaky laugh. "R-react badly? Wh-who's reacting badly?" His hands shook so badly he could not hold the bag.

North reached out and took it from him, carefully scooping up the rest of the glass. "Tell me."

Jack's blue eyes were filled with distrust as they flicked nervously between North and the broken glass littering the floor. "I…I…it just…"

He began speaking very fast, as if saying it in a rush would soften the blow. "About a century ago, two spirits attacked me. One had a mirror with her and she kept talking to it like it was a friend…it freaked me out, because she was doing magic with it or something…so I froze it o-over and shattered the glass with my st-staff…" he stopped and glanced down at his hands, clenched tightly into fists. "And th-they picked up the glass and st-started cutting me with it on my back and chest and stomach. Th-that was what…gave me…the idea to…" he motioned to his wrists.

North's eyes burned with fire. "What?"

"Y-you heard me," Jack whispered, voice breaking. "Y-you heard the st-story…"

North's gaze softened when he looked at Jack. To go through all that and still be a child at heart?

Jack wasn't looking at North. His breathing was labored as he did so, and he whispered, "I-I'm sorry, North…"

"What are you sorry for?" he demanded. "Jack, the only people who have to be sorry are those spirits…"

He held out his arms and Jack didn't hesitate to fall into them.

He sobbed his heart out into North's thick red coat and North whispered, "I will never let another person harm you for as long as I live."


	35. I Am

**Chapter 35: I Am...**

**No idea where this angst-fest came from. Parts of it were inspired by the prompts 'nothing' and 'fragment'. It's...just...guys...it's just so friggin' angsty it's not even funny. I've come to announce I'm most likely gonna be updating every day now. I have a lot of other fanfictions to work on, but to be honest, only 10% of these are one-shots. The rest are angsty, half-arsed drabbles just to torture Jack.**

**Also, my last chapter was such a cheese fest I had to update again...**

* * *

**- Before the movie -**

I am a crack on the sidewalk.

You don't notice when you step on me.

I am a snowflake drifting down, longing for a long life of happiness. Aching for company.

Aching for innocence that I have lost.

I am the snow that covers the ground, the scar on the inside of your wrist, the blood on your skin. The tears on your face, the promise you never kept, the reason for your tears.

I am a fragment of what I'd like to be, one small fragment of winter.

And winter kills.

I am a fragment of death waiting to happen.

I am a fragment of something that wants to be more than nothing. I am an unheard note in

your favorite song, the scream you don't hear. In short, I am nothing.

* * *

- After the movie -

I am Jack Frost. I'm the spirit of winter. I'm a Guardian. I help people when I can. I play pranks on Bunnymund; I help Jamie with his problems. I help him and his friends loosen up and have fun.

I'm a Guardian. I'm more than winter's broken fragment. I am something more than what I ever thought I could be.  
I am Jack Frost and I am so much more than nothing.


	36. Lost and Broken

**A/N: Chapter 36: Lost and Broken **

**Um...yeah! I realized I hadn't done a poem lately, so I whipped this out first thing this morning. Seriously, it came to me from the prompt 'dreams'. Right above that was another one I did for Chapter 24, I think, 'abandoned'. From there I came up with the line 'lost and abandoned in a world of broken dreams' and this angst-fest was born :-)**

* * *

For 300 years, he's wandered the world alone,

Making ice and making snow.

Trapped in endless winter, he wasn't sure what to do,

He couldn't go to the Guardians and he couldn't go to you.

* * *

He was lost, he was abandoned, he was coming apart at the seams,

Lost and abandoned in a world of broken dreams.

He was lost and he was lonely, he was tired of calling out,

Lost and broken, stuck in two worlds of doubt.

* * *

He was just a kid, but he was fighting a man's war,

Fighting, fighting, but what was he fighting for?

Fighting this battle, he was forced to be a man,

And still you wonder, still you ask yourself why he ran?

* * *

You who call yourselves Guardians, you've failed at your job,

You abandoned a child, left him broken and lost.

Now you come back for him, this lost child,

Thinking he's capable of only bitter lies and broken smiles.

* * *

He's broken and lost, this child you've always known of,

Living for three centuries without love.

You knew he was abandoned, knew he had no home,

And still you left him in his endless winter, broken and alone.

* * *

And just when he thought his loneliness was ending,

He realized you were just pretending.

He cried on his frozen lake, completely, utterly alone.

This broken and lost boy, this winter spirit with no home.


	37. Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 37: Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 1**

**This is not meant to be interpreted wrongly. It's referring to a prank. This might end up getting its own, separate arc outside of 'Shattered' purely because I like the idea so much. And unlike the 'Cursed' arc, this one was actually my own idea, LOL. 'Cursed' was inspired by a prompt. Somethin' about a main character bein' afraid of such and such and running into it every day. IDK. LOL.**

* * *

Bunny only meant to scare him. He felt justified in his desire, as the frost child was always pranking him in some way. He deserved this at the very least.

He didn't mean for it to happen, for Jack's trust in them to be shattered forever. He didn't mean to shatter Jack Frost.

He was only voicing his ideas as Jack flew away after a Guardian meeting. The others were gathering around, getting ready to leave so the pooka approached North. "Mate, I was kinda thinking…" he trailed off, seeing North wasn't listening.

The man was staring after Jack, a pitying look in his sapphire blue, wonder-filled eyes. His brow was furrowed in concern.

"Never mind, mate," Bunny said dismally.

"Wait, Bunny! What were you saying?"  
"I want to prank Frostbite this year," blurted Bunny.

North grinned. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because with you, that kid can do no wrong," Bunny muttered, not altogether untruthfully.

North gave him a stern glare. "Bunnymund, Jack needs me right now—

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, mate," Bunny cut him off. He had no wish to hear North talk about what a hard time the white-haired ankle-biter was going through.

He sighed and said, "I was kind of thinking Trick might be able to help. He is the spirit of Halloween, after all, he loves playing practical jokes. We could try him."

"Maybe," North agreed.

"Hmmm?" asked Tooth vacantly.

"We're pranking Jack this year," Bunny told her and Sandy. "With a little help from the spirit of Halloween."

* * *

Bunny hopped out of one of his rabbit holes, stopping at the mouth of a large cave. He had successfully shouted down all North's attempts to make him travel in the sleigh and thus was a very happy Bunnymund indeed.

The sleigh, meanwhile, had screeched to a stop beside him and the other Guardians hopped out.

As Bunny rapped on the wall of a cave, a voice called out, "Come in!"

They entered and saw creepy reddish light, with water dripping down the cave walls. However, deep in the bowels of the cave, all was warm and dry.

"Do I spy the Guardians?" laughed a red-haired girl, dancing up to them. She had a short black miniskirt and a clingy white T-shirt. She went sock less in leprechaun green Converse and orange stripes on her cute little face.

"We're looking for your brother," Bunny replied, "but you might be able to help us, too."

She smiled a bit and replied, "What do you need help with?" She grabbed a Fun Size Butterfinger out of a large orange bowl on the cave floor beside her, carelessly ripping the package open with her teeth. "What do you guys want? I got some Butterfingers, some caramel Hershey Kisses, regular Hershey Kisses, almond Hershey Kisses, some peppermint sticks left over from last Christmas…they're looking a little old, we ought to throw those out…some sugar-free gum, specially for the Tooth Fairy…"

"Thank you, we're not interested," Tooth said warmly. "We only wanted to talk."

"Oh, okay," the girl carelessly popped the Butterfinger in her mouth. There could be no mistaking the pretty redhead: she was Treat, identical twin sister to Trick.

Then she leaned back, peered deep into the bowels of the cave and called around a mouthful of Butterfinger, "Trick! There are spirits here to see you!"

"Tell them I'll be down in a minute!" came a male voice from the back of the cave.

"They're the _Guardians_!" Treat said, emphasizing their titles. "It'd really better be a minute!"

There was silence, except for Trick's sneakers pounding on the rocky floor. Even with spirits like these, the Guardians' titles commanded respect.

Trick appeared, a half-eaten Twix in one hand. Bunny heard Tooth give a little, pained 'oh' upon seeing Trick eating candy.

Bunny gave her a look.

Trick was a bit like his sister, with a baggy white T-shirt and blue jeans. His red hair was short and curly, his brown eyes playful and curious as he regarded them. His black Converse sneakers were dirty at the tops and on the sides were written 'Trick' and 'Halloween' and 'Boo!' in messy handwriting. He clearly hadn't taken as good care of his clothing as his sister had. "What's up, Guardians? Why are you visiting our humble abode?" he spread his hands wide, indicating the spacious cave.

"You're pretty good with pranks, right?" Bunny asked, getting right to the point.

"Yeah," Trick replied, pulling up a bit of floor and lounging carelessly back. He reminded them all of a much lazier and dirtier Jack Frost. "Who're you thinking of? I'm thinking…spirit of summer, right? June Sunshine's reaction is ALWAYS fun…"

"No," Bunny said, "we're talking Jack Frost."

"Oh," Trick's eyebrows shot up. "The prankster gets pranked. The _irony_."

"So you know him?" Tooth asked.

Treat snorted. "Of course we know the useless winter spirit! Everyone knows about the lowest spirit on the totem pole…"

The other Guardians exchanged looks. Jack was unpopular in the world of spirits? Somehow, none of them had expected that.

"Anyway," Trick quickly changed the subject. "What's you guys' intention? Do you guys want to scare or humiliate him or scar him for life?"

"What do you mean, 'scar him for life'?" Even Bunny looked nervous now as Trick's careless grin widened.

"Oh…not much," he drawled. "Bit like embarrassing him, really. You might want to stick with scaring him. He's easier to frighten than mortify."

The Guardians all looked at Bunny. Hey, it had been his idea – what did he have in mind?

"Nothing too mean," Bunny said, catching their 'you're the leader here, now' looks. "Just…not scaring him, just shaking him up a bit, maybe."

Trick nodded. "Hey, sis, get Jack's file, will ya?"

"You should really get off your ass and do it yourself, bro," Treat shot back, standing up and running out of sight.

"Jack's…file?" North repeated, looking confused.

"We're a bit like Guardians, too, you know," Trick said with a slight smirk. "We keep files on all spirits, even insignificant ones like Frost. It updates with their phobias, weaknesses, sensitivities and how easy they'll be to prank on a scale of one to ten. One represents they're pathetic in the world of pranking and ten suggests they're the pranking master. Frost's probably got a ten, like me."

"Weaknesses?" North repeated. "So, for Jack, it might be…"

"Physical, emotional, mental, everything," Trick interrupted. "Like his physical weaknesses are heat and southern states, while his strengths physically are cold climates and snow."

"You've opened his file before?" Bunny asked. "I thought you said he didn't matter to you guys."

"Right," Trick began. "But—

"Bro!" Treat handed Trick a plain folder and Trick opened it to the first page.

His face split into an evil grin. "Sis, he's a nine!"

"Probably from the Halloween of '88," Treat smirked.

It felt a bit like they were talking in code. "What?" Bunny demanded.

"On a scale of one to ten, he's a nine, making him hard to prank, but not impossible, like me," Trick said, boasting just a bit. "And he got knocked down from a ten by me and Treat. We pranked him on Halloween last century."

The Guardians exchanged surprised looks as Trick kept flipping through it. "Okay, a prank that might work on him is asking him to take his sweatshirt off."

Bunny and Tooth exchanged confused looks. North's expression hardened.

"Why?" Bunny asked.

Trick shrugged. "No idea. It's only giving me a list of his fears, weaknesses, sensitivities and pranks that might work, like I said before."

"Um…I guess it sounds okay," Tooth said.

"We are not doing that," interrupted North. "Keep going, Trick."

There was silence and as Trick announced another prank, Bunny felt strong fingers around his wrist. "I don't like this," North hissed. "I have bad feeling about this. In my belly." He patted his belly and said, "I think we need to go, now."

Tooth and Sandy were rejecting that prank as well.

"Throw him in water," Trick suggested, reading from the list. "Wow, Frost, how pathetic can you get? You're a winter spirit and you're afraid of water?"

"He is?" Tooth asked, surprised.

"Keep going, mate," Bunny encouraged.

Trick kept flipping through. "I've got it!" he excitedly said, looking up from the file. "I've got the perfect prank!"

"Not another phobia, I hope," North growled. "We're not messing with something he's afraid of."

Trick's expression quickly went from excited to neutral. "Of course not. Frost will find this funny, once you explain the prank to him."

They exchanged looks. "Uh…ok…shoot," North said slowly.

Trick met their eyes and smiled excitedly. "Act like you guys are gonna kick him out of the Guardians."


	38. Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 38: Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 2 **

**OMG, guys. I was just praying for ONE review on the last chapter, just one, so I went ecstatic when I got it. Then I went to sleep, woke up and turned on my computer to work on this and saw I had, not sixty-six, but SEVENTY-ONE reviews, which I truly didn't think I'd hit until, like, CHAPTERS down the road. The farthest I was thinking ahead to was sixty-seven, which I thought would be a few chapters down the road. Holy freaking cow, I cannot believe I hit this many! For that, you guys get a Pitch line: "What goes together better than COLD and DARK?" **

**Or, better yet, "What goes together better than a butt-load of reviews and a happy .ryder?" XD **

* * *

This was met with uncertainty by them all.

North was first to speak. "I don't know."

"Uh…" This was from Tooth.

"Hmmm…" from Bunny.

And Sandy made a little image of uncertainty.

"Fine," Trick said, rummaging around the candy bowl. "Just so you know, Frost won't take it to heart or anything."

"He'd be laughing himself silly if he could see us," grumped Bunny. "C'mon, guys, let's just do it."

"Okay…" Tooth sighed uncertainly.

"You're sure Jack won't get upset?" North asked.

Trick smirked a bit. "Hel-_lo! _You guys are acting like his friends or something!"

"Silly, Frost doesn't _have _friends," smirked Treat.

Bunny and the others watched in apparent disdain.

'Hey,' Sandy said through his images. 'Don't talk like that! We're Jack's friends!'

"Whatever you say, little man," Trick said. "Personally, I vote you guys go for this prank. It might take a bit of good acting to make him believe it's serious, but you'll get him believing easily enough. It's okay, though, Frost won't be offended or anything. It wasn't on his phobias or anything. Just a random nugget of information."

The Guardians exchanged uneasy looks.

"C'mon, guys," Bunny said. "Jack would be laughing at us right now. C'mon, let's do it, mates."

North hesitated for a second longer. "Oh, alright."

Tooth nodded.

Sandy looked a bit unsure, but he relented as well.

As Bunny went down his rabbit hole, he thought, 'one thing's for sure. Frost will learn to never prank E. Aster Bunnymund again.'

* * *

The next day, they met at the North Pole and continuously went over their lines, their body language.

Then they sent out the Northern Lights and within seconds, Jack was at the Pole.

"Hey, guys! Man, you guys travel fast! I'm ALWAYS last, you realize that?"

He flicked his staff carelessly around. "Anyway, what's up? Nothing's wrong, is it?" he seemed unworried.

"Jack," North said somberly, inwardly wincing, "we have some bad news."

Jack went very still. "Uh-oh. What's uh…what's…?"

"I'm afraid us Guardians can no longer house you," North said quietly. "You are hereby banished from the Guardians." Instantly, the bad feeling came back. And he quit talking.

"I get it," Jack whispered drearily, going limp against his staff.

Instantly, Trick's words came back to North, '_he won't take it to heart or anything.' _Was the joke on them? He turned to Tooth to stop her from saying her part, but the hyperactive fairy was determined to get her part over with.

"We don't want to do this, Jack. But it's just…" She trailed off, forgetting her lines.

Jack nodded and his fingers slid slowly down to the bracelet on his wrist. It snapped loudly against his pale skin. "I get it." And he turned and ran for the window, silently summoning the wind. "Take me home."

"This wasn't how it was supposed to go, mates!" he heard Bunny. Then he heard North calling his name, but he didn't respond or turn back around.

'I should've known,' he thought bitterly to himself. 'They never wanted me. Never cared. Who would?'

He swiped furiously at the tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

When he touched down upon his frozen lake, he saw Trick and Treat standing there, the spirits of Halloween. "What are you two doing here?" Jack asked. Last time he'd seen Trick and Treat this close, it'd been during the Halloween of 1988, when they'd ended up kicking his butt.

"Just here to sympathize, Frost," drawled Trick. "What the Guardians did was low."

A bad feeling came over Jack then, and he was just about to summon the wind again when Treat fell on top of him, pinning his arms behind his back.

Trick jerked him back up and tugged teasingly on the hem of his hoodie. "Let's see why one of your worst fears is that somebody asks you to take off your hoodie." He slowly began pulling it up as Jack silently pleaded with the moon, anything, to get him out of this.

Once he'd gotten it completely up, he ripped it off, over Jack's head, exposing pale skin and numerous scars on his wrists, his back, and his chest. "Wow, Frost. You're even more of a freak than I thought."

He tossed Jack carelessly onto his frozen lake, where Treat was holding his staff teasingly above him.

Trick grabbed Jack's wrist, before seeing the bracelet on it. As he pulled it off, he read "'Self-Mutilation Awareness'? Wow. The_ irony_, Frost." He threw it farther down the frozen lake, careless with it as if not understanding its meaning to Jack and who had given it to him.

Trick kicked Jack in the ribs, taking a savage pleasure in hearing the winter spirit inhale sharply.

"It's really not surprising the Guardians did this to you," he sneered. "Still. At least they didn't do it purely because of your little problem, right?" he motioned to Jack's wrists. "At least no one knew about THAT…or did they?" he grinned.

Jack closed his eyes. Maybe North had told the others about it. Maybe…

Trick grabbed him by his hair and slammed him into a tree trunk, the rough bark digging into his back.

He knew he could've fought back, but really, what was the point?

No one loved him. No one cared. No one would care if he died.

The family he'd thought was his only wanted him to defeat Pitch. He bit his lip. No one would care if he died. Let me die, he pleaded silently.

Trick threw him back down onto the ice and said, "Now let's see why a winter spirit is pathetic enough to have a fear of water."

"No!" Jack screamed as Treat used his staff to smash the ice, creating a small hole.

"Bye, bye, Frost," she giggled, shoving him into the hole.

Jack struggled, thrashed about in the dark waters, terrified. He screamed, pleaded, begged for them to let him out, ripping his throat raw.

At last, cold hands ripped him from the hole and threw him back down onto the ice, where he lay, gasping and shaking with fear.

No help was coming. He was unseen. Alone. Unable to reach out to anyone.

Nobody would care. Not even the Guardians. North's fatherly tendencies, his understanding of Jack, it had all been a cruel lie.

Treat smirked down at him. "I only saved you because me and my brother aren't done with you YET." She emphasized the 'yet' and grinned, picking Jack's staff up again.

She made her voice high and babyish. "Is little baby Frost scared of the water?"

"L-leave me alone," he gasped, strung out on the emotional turmoil of the day.

She grinned nastily. "L-leave me alone!" she mimicked, smirking. "How cute! You honestly think we're just gonna let you go? The only reason we let you live is because we're not DONE with you," she explained patiently. "And nobody cares."

Trick walked around him, smirking. "Well, we've given Pitch Black a good feast indeed," he sneered. "And—whoa!"

A rabbit hole appeared on the ice and Bunnymund jumped out, green eyes glittering with panic. When they landed on Jack, concern replaced fear and he looked around, spotting Trick. "Did you do this?"

Trick paled, taking a quick step backward. "A-actually—

"You lied, didn't you, Trick?" Bunny continued. "You put the joke on us? And now you go and HURT HIM? YOU KICK HIM WHEN HE'S DOWN?" he pointed an accusing finger at the twins, then at Jack. He picked Trick up by the throat and shoved him into a tree trunk, pressing on his windpipe. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?"

"Stop, stop, you're CHOKING HIM!" Treat cried, grabbing at Bunny's paws.

Bunny let Trick go, but pinned him to the icy ground. "Just remember one thing," he growled. "If I ever run into you again, you will _regret it_."

As the two vanished, Bunny whispered, "I should have killed them."

Then he dropped to his knees beside Jack, years of medical experience kicking in. The boy was unconscious now, bruises forming on his face, ribs and…oh, god, there were scars covering his arms and torso. _No time to think of that now_. Jack was in danger. How much internal damage had Trick and Treat caused? Bunny checked for signs of internal bleeding, then quickly put Jack on his back and raced off to the Pole, which he knew was deserted.

* * *

"Jack! Jack!" North called, silently hating himself. Why had he agreed to that stupid prank? Why had he done it to Jack? He'd be lucky if the boy didn't completely hate him.

The Northern Lights lit up, sending the message he was needed at the Pole. The yetis only sent the signal when he was gone and things were looking dire. He raced to the sleigh.

* * *

Tooth was calling out for Jack, wondering how on earth those two feisty, mean-spirited Halloween twins had talked her into this. How could she have agreed? How could she have?

Suddenly, she spotted the Northern Lights in the distance and took off as fast as her wings could carry her. Had North found the elusive Jack Frost?

* * *

Sandy's tendrils of Dreamsand were finding nothing, which is what worried the little yellow man.

He was not normally used to his Dreamsand coming up empty, but Jack was nowhere to be found, until he picked up on something at the North Pole. But Jack couldn't be THERE, could he? He left! Sandy _watched him_ leave!

What was he doing back there? He'd better go check it out…with that, he raced off to the Pole.


	39. Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 39: Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 3 **

**This is not the end of the arc, but I might post drabbles and one-shots in between the arcs as little fillers or something. K? Anyway, none of you decided to tell me how much fun injured!Jack, guilt-ridden!Bunny and brotherly!Bunny is to write xD WHY WAS I NOT LET IN ON THIS SECRET? Anyway, I'll let you guys know when this arc is finished. It most likely won't be until, like, three or four more chapters. So...much...material... Also, they should really make angst-ridden a word, if it's not already. Because then we'd finally have a legit adjective to describe Jack Frost! Also, angstful, so we can describe my stories lol xD **

**Seriously, guys, seventy-six reviews? Holy crud! Ok, I'm writing the next part! Goodbye!**

* * *

As the other Guardians waited anxiously for Jack to awaken, they talked.

Tooth talked nonsensically to her fairies and to the other Guardians, just for the sake of talking. North talked slowly and clearly because he was still trying to make sense out of everything Bunny was telling them.

Sandy wasn't talking, of course, but his images were flashing above his head like crazy.

And Bunny was talking quietly, hauntingly, telling the horrible story of what he'd seen. He edited out the bit about Jack's scars; he was sure the frost child wouldn't want the others to know and besides that, he felt strangely protective of that secret.

"Mates…he's…" he put a paw on his forehead. "It's all my fault…"

"What on earth do you mean?" demanded Tooth, looking up from instructing a mini fairy on where to go. "Bunny…?"

"I was the one who had the idea to prank him in the first place and go to Trick!" Bunny said, furious with himself. "And now Frostbite…now he's stuck in a hospital bed because of me!"

"Bunny!" Tooth shouted. "Bunny, this wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's. You didn't know what Trick was planning. You didn't know. Ok? Yeah, it was stupid of us to think Jack wouldn't be hurt, but in the end, the only ones really at fault here are Trick and that no good sister of his." She crossed her arms defiantly, hummingbird-like wings fluttering like crazy through the air behind her. "So don't you go feeling guilty, alright?"

Bunny sighed and sat down in a red armchair by the crackling fire in the hearth, anxious now for their little frost boy to wake up.

North put a hand on his furry shoulder. "There now, Bunnymund," he said gently. "Jack will wake up and we can put this whole nasty prank to rest…you'll see."

* * *

"_Bye, bye, Frost." Treat shoved him into the vicious clutches of the dark water below._

"_You are hereby banished from the Guardians." _

"_Let's see why one of your worst fears is that somebody asks you to take off your hoodie."_

_Trick ripped Jack's bracelet off his_ wrist.*****

_They threw him, threw him, threw him into the waters so frightening, so terrifying, so dark, dark, dark…_

_They were laughing, Treat's giggle high-pitched and sweet-sounding as she shoved Jack away from her._

_Trick's slightly deeper one joined hers and there was nothing but the unforgiving heat and icy sweat trickling down Jack's brow and all he could think was, 'why me?' _

_He knew he was unpopular with the other spirits, but it felt like he was always taking crap from them. Even the seasonal ones despised him, except Victoria Fall._

Jack opened his eyes and sat up, then stumbled to his feet, reaching blindly for his staff. Pain exploded in his side, he felt the thin stick of wood beneath his fingers, and then darkness threatened to envelop him. All he felt was pain. All he knew was the blinding pain in his ribs as he lay gasping on the floor, struggling not to breathe too deeply.

Little did he know as he blacked out that the thud of his body hitting the floor had woken the Guardians.

When the Guardians came running and saw Jack passed out on the floor, his staff clattering to the floor beside him, Bunny clapped a paw to his forehead. "Frost, why do you insist on givin' me gray fur?" he muttered as he carefully picked Jack up so as not to further his injuries and laid him carefully back on the bed.

'Technically, your fur is already gray.' Sandy pointed out through images.

"Hush up," Bunny angrily told the Guardian of Dreams. "You knew what I meant."

Jack groaned and shifted in his sleep, white hair hanging limply on his forehead, wincing slightly as he rolled over on his undoubtedly bruised ribs.

He flinched, reaching out for his staff, even in his sleep seeking comfort and defense.

Bunny handed the thin stick of wood to him and North gently rubbed Jack's hair out of his face.

"Oh!" Tooth looked sincerely disappointed. "I have to go! I have to collect!" her mouth dragged down at the corners. "Promise me you guys will stay with Jack?"

"We'll be fine, Sheila," Bunny promised as she departed.

'I'd better go, too,' Sandy said and he left too.

Bunny and North stood alone, staring down at Jack's sleeping form, clutching his staff.

North gently kissed Jack's forehead. "Get better, soon, Jack." He walked reluctantly out of the infirmary to check on the elves.

Bunny stood beside him and he quickly produced a pale blue band the color of frost itself and laid it down on the table beside Jack's bed. "Listen, Frost," he whispered, "I won't ask you about it, ok? I'll leave you alone about cutting if you promise to get help."

Jack dozed on, blissfully unaware of the worried Bunnymund.

"Answer me, Frost!" Bunny said desperately. "C'mon…answer me…show me you're ok!"

It was strange to see Bunny this way.

Jack's eyelids fluttered and he reached out a hand. For one wild moment, Bunny thought Jack was going to grab his paw, but his fingers instead found the pale blue bracelet on the bedside table then his staff.

He settled back down, comfortably aware, even in sleep that his two most important worldly possessions were safe and with him.

Bunny picked up the band and twirled it. "Who gave you this, by the way?" he mused. "I found it on your frozen lake, a few feet away and picked it up…just in case."

Then he took a deep breath and began speaking. "Frost, I disagree with you all the time. At one point, I thought you were lazy and irresponsible and immature. And I'm…so sorry I thought that way about you. I'm sorry. There, I said it. I'm sorry that I left you alone the way I did. I'm sorry I wasted years I could've spent being your friend…Frostbite—Jack. Please. Open your eyes and talk to me again. I get it, your injuries aren't that severe, you're not in fatal danger, but please…I need to see you alright…Frost, please, wake up and tell me I'm pathetic, call me Kangaroo, just do something to show you're not furious with us!"

He dropped to his knees beside the hospital bed. "Show me you don't think of us as despicable for that prank we pulled on you."

He rested a paw in Jack's white hair. "Just _wake up_, Snowflake…"

Jack shifted in his sleep, snuggling closer to Bunnymund's touch, fingers gripping Bunny's fur. "Aw…you do care…" then he went back to more out-of-his-head ramblings, but Bunny smiled a bit, knowing he was meant to be here when Jack said those words.

* * *

***I wouldn't expect anyone to read the small edits I made to 'Farther Than They Wanted to Go' part 2, so just know Trick snapped Jack's bracelet off, k? **


	40. Smiles

**A/N: Chapter 40: Smiles **

**I thought that since I was breaking the big four-oh mark, I may as well interrupt with a little drabble about Jack Frost and his smiles.**

* * *

There was one thing North noticed about Jack Frost from the very first time they met, in the North Pole only a few months ago.

There was just some cheerful demeanor surrounding him, but it also had an underlying threat of tough, 'don't touch me'.

Jack constantly smiled. The first few times he'd smiled around the Guardians, it had been bitter, sarcastic quirks of the lips, barely more than an upward curve to the corners.

They seemed a bit softer, more trusting now, but still…a lot of suspicion lurked inside this child they'd abandoned.

What North didn't know was that Jack had to smile. What he didn't know was that even if he wasn't happy, Jack still smiled and laughed and pretended to be the happiest person in the room. What North didn't know was that Jack Frost smiled because it was the only thing that kept him from breaking down.


	41. Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 4

**A/N: Chapter 41: Farther Than They Wanted To Go Part 4**

**To all intents and purposes, this is the end of the arc. There might be a part five, but that seems a tad unlikely. So...I'm really sorry this took so long to churn out...you see, I had the original idea that North wasn't there at all, that it was just Bunny comforting him...and yes, North does feel a little thrown in there in this one but I decided to give brotherly!Bunny the spotlight for once. **

* * *

When Jack woke up again, he was alone.

He wondered where he was; the North Pole, maybe? His legs had tangled with the red sheets in the night and he was laying on a soft pillow with medical supplies on the table beside the bed. His blue bracelet also happened to be there.

Picking it up and struggling to remember ever taking it off, he slowly slid it back on, over his wrist and lay back down.

Suddenly, he remembered: The Guardians. They didn't want him anymore. Tears threatened to spill out of his blue eyes and he sniffed them back. Well, he thought, sitting up and wincing slightly, rubbing his bruised ribs, if he really was in the North Pole, he'd better get out of here.

He opened the window and hesitated, balancing on the ledge. What if it wasn't the Guardians? What if it was some other spirit? He definitely owed them a thank-you, even though he could've taken care of it on his own. It was still nice to feel cared about.

He slowly took his hands off the glass pane and crawled back inside, stifling a gasp of pain as his ribs protested strongly with the sudden movement.

He took a deep breath and walked over to the door, but suddenly two people flung it open: North and Bunny.

Jack saw them coming and blurted, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get injured and wind up here, I…I…th-thank you for taking c-care of me…"

When at last he sputtered himself into silence, Bunny reached over and hugged him, about the last thing he'd expected from the Aussie rabbit.

North joined in on the hug, too, and both elder Guardians could feel the boy's thin frame shaking slightly.

"Jack," whispered North and Jack threw himself back as the two pulled away, shaking ever harder.

"I…I…why…why are you being so nice to me?" he whispered. Then he slumped against the wall and put his head in his hands, knees pulled up to his chest.

As his soft sobbing sounded throughout the room, Bunny carefully bent down next to him and patted him on the back. "Mate, c'mon…we didn't really mean it, after all…"

"No," Jack whispered, "you can't take me back. Not again. I…I…I have more self-respect than that. I'm not being just somebody to mess with when you're bored, I'm…I'm not letting you guys hurt me anymore."

North sighed and sat down next to Jack. "Jack, the thing is…we weren't really kicking you out of the Guardians, like we said we were. I…we…we kind of had the idea…"

"I had the idea," Bunny interrupted. "It was all my fault, Jack…"

"No, it wasn't, Bunny," interrupted North. "Bunny had the idea and we encouraged him…we had the idea to…well….pull a prank on you. So we went to visit the spirits of Halloween to help us. They convinced us to do that, telling us you wouldn't be offended."

Jack stared at him for a second. "I don't believe you."

"Honest!" North insisted.

Jack scrutinized him. "You…you mean it?"

Bunny sensed the hope in the child's voice. It occurred to him how hopeless Jack had felt when they'd first met, at the North Pole a few months ago. He'd felt hopeless, like nothing was going to change for him. And still he kept a smile on his face. And when Bunny blamed Jack for Easter, he'd felt so hopeless. But of course, the rabbit's own hope was so mangled back then that he didn't even question it. Jack had been steadily losing hope that the Guardians would trust him and Bunny hadn't even realized it.

And then, when they'd played the prank…

Bunny sighed. "No. We're not. We never will. Okay?"

Jack looked between them for a second or two, distrust threatening to shatter his fragile hopes. Bitterness and suspicion warred with hope and desire. Finally, he mumbled, "B-but…you guys really acted like…"

"I know," Bunny whispered.

North made frantic motions for Bunny to clear out now as Jack gripped North's coat and made small whimpering noises, like a child having been woken from a terrible nightmare.

But Bunny wasn't leaving. This was _his_ fault and he was going to help set things right. He needed Jack to hope again. Jack didn't need wonder right now. He needed hope. So Bunny silently shook his head, communicating to North that he couldn't leave now.

They sat with Jack as the winter spirit clutched at North's coat, swallowing and gasping and trying to come to terms with the fact that apparently, they weren't kicking him out after all.

"We'll never kick ya out, kiddo," Bunny whispered, swiping a gigantic paw over Jack's hair.

Jack leaned into the touch and whispered, "I thought you guys didn't want me anymore."

"Course we do," Bunny mumbled. "We'll always want you. For as long as you want us to be, we'll be there for you. You're not alone anymore."

Suddenly, Jack did something that surprised the other two: he pulled away from North's embrace and gently clasped his arms around Bunny instead.

Both Guardians exchanged looks and North's was something like, 'wow, Bunny, you and Jack have come so far.'

Bunny for his part, looked a little like, 'get me out of this, North. You are way better at dealing with emotional winter spirits than I am.'

Suddenly, he heard a choked sob escape the spirit and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"I th-thought you guys didn't want me anymore," whispered Jack. "That you guys had just…_u-used_ me…to…"

"Don't," Bunny warned. "Don't finish that sentence, mate. We would never just throw you away."

"I don't want to be alone anymore, Bunny." Jack was speaking as though divulging his darkest secret. "Please don't leave me _alone_."

"We're not."

"How can I b-be sure—?"

"You're gonna have to trust us."

Jack didn't respond and for a long while that was all that happened, Bunny sitting there holding the weakened boy who was so much like a brother to him.

At last, Jack went limp in Bunny's arms and Bunny gently detached himself from the winter spirit, flicking ice chips out of his fur, formed from holding the winter spirit having an emotional breakdown.

"I hope he's gonna be ok," whispered Bunny, looking down at him.

"Yes," North chuckled as Jack squeezed Bunny's paw in his sleep, then reached for his staff to ensure himself it was still there, "I think he's gonna be just fine."


	42. Patches of Ice

**A/N: Chapter 42: Patches of Ice**

**Yeah...um...pre-movie...not sure where it came from...**

* * *

Jack sat down next to a patch of ice he'd just created and stared at it for a second. He twirled his pathetic stick of wood in his fingers, wondering why he kept it around. It only helped him bring destruction.

Oh, now he remembered: because it was the only thing in the world that didn't turn away from him. His ice was white and cold and uncaring, his snowflakes gentle and naïve. The moon ignored him and the rain only fell because of his tears. It didn't stick around to comfort him, only to fall as long as he cried.

"Oh…" He glanced down at his patch of ice, slowly melting in the early morning sun. "Here." He gave it a tap with his staff and it re-solidified. He smiled gently. Maybe winter did kill some things…but it also helped other things.


	43. Child You Deserted

**A/N: Chapter 43: Child You Deserted**

**Yeah...what...what...? I have no idea where this angst-fest came from. Like, AT ALL. **

* * *

He lies in the Sahara Desert,

Broken and alone.

He grips his staff, lips dry and cracked,

He can never find home.

* * *

He lies there on the sand,

Barely breathing, he hardly moves,

This journey he won't make, that's clear as day,

The Guardians cast him away when they disapproved.

* * *

How could you do this to him?

How could you abandon him like that?

When all he wanted was to be seen, to find a family,

With a real mom and dad.

* * *

You hurt him, you hurt him,

And hurt him a little more,

You caused him to fear, the ones who stick near,

When you walked out the door.

* * *

You hurt him, you scarred him,

Left him broken and torn,

There's only one place, for a child who was misplaced,

For this child you ignored.

* * *

Now he lies in the Sahara Desert,

His body an empty shell.

You did this to him, you abandoned a kid,

Left him alone in his frozen hell.

* * *

He's dead now.

And you can't bring him back.

I wish you'd thought this through, when he came calling for you,

I wish you'd thought to care for Jack.

* * *

But instead, you turned away,

Your eyes, you averted,

This child was abandoned and alone, no family and no home,

Now he's dead, this child you deserted.


	44. Shattering Jack Frost

**A/N: Chapter 44: Shattering Jack Frost **

**Um...another poem...kind of an AU, Jack joins Pitch instead type thing. Hope you like!**

* * *

When the eggs were broken,

And everything was cracked,

You turned to the frost child,

You mindlessly blamed Jack.

* * *

You blamed him for Easter,

Without knowing the whole story.

You killed him inside,

So don't go saying that you're sorry.

* * *

This is all your fault,

Look at the Jack standing before you now,

With his hood drawn up, eyes in shadow,

Rejected before he could even take the vow.

* * *

You sold him away,

Sold him to Pitch Black,

Don't go knocking on his door,

Asking for him back.

* * *

This Jack Frost standing before you now,

Is bitter and alone.

But he won't be lonely much longer,

He's finally got a home.

* * *

Pitch Black is now his ally,

And the fault is all yours,

You yelled at him and hurt him,

And everybody around him slammed their doors.

* * *

He wandered the world alone for so long that now,

That he's finally found somewhere, he's not sure what to believe.

The children's lights are fading fast,

But that's not his problem, or so he'd like to think.

* * *

This Jack Frost standing before you now,

Is the light that never shone.

This Jack Frost right here,

Is bitter and alone.

* * *

You blamed him for Easter,

Oh, why, why did you have to do that?

Forever, he is doomed to be,

A servant of Pitch Black.

* * *

I'm sorry to you foolish Guardians,

But you really should've believed.

You shouldn't have blamed him,

You shouldn't have made him leave.

* * *

You shouldn't have done that,

Not to this poor child,

This winter boy has disappeared,

This frozen teen has run wild.

* * *

This frozen teen has so easily,

Been led and led astray,

He had nowhere to go, so he drew up the conclusion,

That Pitch would lead the way.

* * *

You really shouldn't have done that,

You really should've believed,

You shouldn't have blamed him,

You shouldn't have made him leave.

* * *

There was such a heavy price to pay,

And only now are you seeing the cost.

Oh, what a sad, sad day,

When you shattered Jack Frost.


	45. Something I'll Never Say

**A/N: Chapter 45: Something I'll Never Say **

**Um...yeah...working title was 'Leave Me Alone'. Angsty drabble about Jack's aloneness and...crap :P IDK, it just struck me how Jack is always snapping 'leave me alone' in other fics and in mine, he's always just like, 'don't leave me alone.' That was kind of what inspired this. I mean, I write where he's just like, 'leave me alone!' too, but not nearly as much as DON'T leave me alone. Lonely!Jack is just too much fun, as opposed to angry!Jack**

* * *

Leave me alone. It was my phrase, the words I hurled at somebody whenever I wanted the exact opposite.

But the opposite was something I'd never say.

"Stay with me." That was what I wanted to say.

"Be with me." That was what I wanted to say.

"Don't leave me alone." That was what I would never say.

Every time North starts on a subject I don't want to talk about, I snap the words out. "Leave me alone."

But what I'm really saying is, "Please stay."

When Bunnymund starts mocking me or getting snarky, I say, "Leave me alone."

But what I mean is, "Don't ever abandon me to a world of silence again."

When I push the Guardians away, I'm pulling them closer in my heart.

When I say, "Leave me alone" what I mean is, "Please don't leave me alone."


	46. They Hurt You Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 46: They Hurt You Part 1 **

**So I was off feeling really excited that I might hit one hundred reviews tomorrow and then I saw this other person's AN: "Well, we're nearing the three hundredth review mark!" **

**Me: Suddenly...my pride...has suddenly been...sapped...**

**Seriously :( well, I suppose I should be grateful! If I carry this angst-fest on long enough, I might be able to hit 179, which is just *one* more than I have on my HTTYD fic, 'To Be Loved the Way You Love Me.' Not that I really expect to, it'd just be SO cool! Anyway, thought I'd start a new arc, a bit of a two or three-shot tribute to 'Shattering Jack Frost', chapter 44. It was inspired by the prompt 'strangle' mostly. **

* * *

When Bunny saw Jack standing there, gripping the tooth box, something snapped inside the hopeless rabbit. He was supposed to bring hope to others and he couldn't even bring hope to himself. And it was all Jack's fault.

"He has to go," he whispered, his voice deadly and dangerous, yet calmer than he felt.

"Wh—?" Jack's lips had barely formed the word when Bunny took a step forward and raised his hands, opening and closing his paws, grabbing for Jack, screaming. "WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE TRUSTED YOU!"

Jack's eyes were wide and fearful, and Bunny felt the boy's throat trapped in his squeezing paws, but he was strangely removed from the situation, from the frost child's face going blue and purple, from Tooth fluttering forward and looking shocked, North's blue eyes wide as dinner plates, clearly wanting to stop Bunny and not sure how.

"Aster…" he began faintly, but Bunny had released Jack as quickly as he'd grabbed him, green eyes wide and angry.

Jack's throat was slowly turning purple, giant fingerprints with a distinct paw-like edge to them turning his neck dark.

Green eyes met blue, Bunny's angry and unrepentant, Jack's wide and fearful, betrayal shining so clearly in them.

He was picked up and carried on a blast of wind, carried away to somewhere unknown and for a few seconds, Bunny was glad that the boy was getting the message, that he was finally gone. Bunny would have given anything for this a few days ago. Then suddenly, his eyes widened when he realized he'd begun strangling Jack. He'd quickly stopped when he'd realized what he was doing, but it didn't change the fact that he'd hurt a child.

How could he call himself a Guardian?

* * *

Jack stood on the edge of the snow-capped mountain, telling himself winter spirits did not cry, however betrayed and hurt and lonely they might be feeling right now.

He'd finally had a chance at people wanting to be around him, at people who liked him and he'd thrown it all away and for what? A stupid tooth box? His memories – knowing who he was – suddenly it didn't seem as important now. He wanted to throw the stupid golden box away, but knew he couldn't. What if the answers lurked inside there, more answers than he could ever have hoped for?

But he couldn't justify watching them, not after what the Guardians had accused him of. Not after Bunny…his neck was still hurting from where Bunny had grabbed him, strangled him, choked him, choked him, _choked_ him…

He struggled just to breathe for a few seconds before the voice…

"I thought this might happen. They never really believed in you. But I understand." The words were spoken with a gentle undertone of concern to them, but Jack knew how cold that voice could turn.

"You don't understand anything!" he howled, sending a blast of ice at Pitch, anything to get the man to shut up, shut up, _shut up_…

"No?" Pitch yelled, easily blocking Jack's attacks with Nightmares. "I don't know what it's like, to be cast out? To not be believed in? To long for a family?"

Silence.

"All those years in the shadows, I thought, 'no one else knows what this feels like.' But now I see I was wrong." His golden eyes turned warm. "We don't have to be alone, Jack. I believe in you. And I know children will, too."

"In me?" whispered Jack, hardly daring to believe it.

"Yes! Look at what we can do!" he gestured to a sculpture of ice with pitch black fragments trapped inside. Jack looked at his reflection in the shattered frost.

"What goes together better than cold and dark?" Pitch continued. "We can make them believe! We'll give them a world where everything, everything is—

"Pitch Black?" Jack interrupted, raising his staff threateningly.

A second of silence, a brief blip…

"And Jack Frost, too," Pitch hurriedly pointed out. "They'll believe in both of us."

A slight hesitation. Just a bit of a pause, but it might be enough.

"Just take my hand," Pitch whispered, "and I promise you, they'll believe. You don't need the Guardians," he whispered, looking down at Jack's purple neck, "They hurt you."

Jack swallowed and slowly reached over, pulling the hood of his shirt up with one hand, gripping Pitch's in the other.


	47. They Hurt You Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 47: They Hurt You Part 2 **

**I really hate this chapter and I don't even know why. It doesn't feel...good. I mean, it feels great. I like how I portray Jack here, but Pitch...Pitch feels a little...hmm, I don't know.**

**But Jack feels kind of conflicted right now, because he only joined Pitch because he didn't want to fight with the Guardians, not after what Bunny did...but he doesn't really want to be alone, either, so the only choice he feels he really has is joining Pitch. He doesn't want to, he really hates the idea and crap, but he's got no choice, or so he feels.**

**Pitch feels a little like, 'omg!' because Jack is a powerful winter sprite who agreed to join him, so Pitch is happy. The Guardians are mainly disappointed with Bunny, but they're pretty much gonna leave Jack alone. Bunny is kind of remorseful right about now, because he hurt a child and a fellow Guardian. So! Hopefully I've explained to everyone how the characters are feeling, so you can better understand them in the next few chapters. Also, Jack is pretty frickin' pissed off at the Guardians as well, so he kind of wants to kick them in the teeth. Anyway...**

**Tell you what, I'll go work on part 3 and get back to you guys if I find what's wrong here.**

* * *

The lights flickered on Pitch's Globe, faint and dim.

Jack gazed guiltily at the flickering lights. 'I should be out there helping them,' he thought to himself sadly. 'I shouldn't be hiding out here, hoping a kick in the teeth will bring them back to their senses.'

"What's wrong, Jack?" Pitch whispered, circling him. "You seem…troubled."

Jack raised confused blue eyes to Pitch. "I…I'm fine. Really."

Pitch looked unconvinced and merely said, "Well, then there is only one thing left to do, Jack."

"And…?" Jack looked up at him, clearly not sure.

"We celebrate now," Pitch whispered. "Look at those lights! At how fast they're going out! We need to finish the job, and then celebrate!"

Jack nodded guiltily, looking back at the Globe.

"C'mon," Pitch said quietly. "We finish the job at the Pole."

"What do you mean…" Jack whispered, swallowing, "…finish the job?"

"Oh," Pitch said, realizing what Jack thought. "No, we're not killing the Guardians, no, not yet…I'll save that…happy job for later…much later…when no lights shine."

Jack nodded silently and stood. Together, the two went to the Pole.

* * *

There was no one there. Just a few stray yetis and elves, all cowering.

Pitch stood on the Globe happily, doing a little dance to release his feelings. "Only six children left!" he cheered. "Six precious children who still believe in the Guardians with all their hearts!" He stepped on the dimmest light and when he moved his foot, Jack saw the light had gone out. "Make that five."

Silence as Pitch danced on the Globe, stepping on lights. "Four!" he chuckled ecstatically. "Three!"

Jack gripped his staff tighter. _They deserved this._

"Two!"

A split second decision, a turnaround, a change of heart and Jack was facing Pitch again, ready to tell him to stop doing this; this wasn't the way, but too late…

"One," Pitch whispered, staring down the light with deadly intensity, waiting for it to dim and flicker off.

Nothing happened.

Jack looked down at the little, feebly glowing light. "Jamie," he breathed.

Pitch looked up. "You…know this child?"

Jack nodded. "I got into a snowball fight with him and his friends."

Pitch heard the unspoken words in Jack's sentence, then leaned down next to the flickering ball of light. "Very well," he whispered, "there's more than one way to snuff out a light."


	48. Jack's Shield

**A/N: Chapter 48: Jack's Shield**

**Um...yes, I know, weird title, but it makes sense when you read it! Anyway, it was done off the prompt 'shield'. Sorry for interrupting the 'They Hurt You' arc, I just know where it's going now, and I don't like the ending one jot. **

* * *

Jack Frost had a shield.

What a strange thing, North thought, looking at him, for a boy not even seventeen to have.

The dark scowl, the crossed arms, the dark tint to his blue eyes, they all hinted at such a deep mistrust.

It was a shield that was invisible, but still there, touchable, tangible, so very there in its entirety that you could reach out and touch it if you wanted.

This was something North could understand, even if he didn't like it.

Jack had the shield of humor, laughter and fun, hiding his pain behind smiles and snow, because he knew the hurting side of him was a side no one ever wanted to see and more to the point, he didn't trust anyone enough to see that side, anyway.

But he also had a deeper shield, a shield of anger that hid his deep river of pain and sorrow from the world. He hid his endless sorrow behind laughter and if that didn't work, anger.

The anger shield worked most of the time and it normally worked on even the Guardians. North was sometimes fooled by Jack's fake smiles and barely-realistic laughs, just a bit of a sharp inhale, as if he were in physical pain.

North had been fooled upon hearing Jack's laughs when the yetis threw him out of the Pole again and again and now he realized Jack's shield was just that of a kid who had been starved of attention and company.

North had always been fooled.

But now, for the first time ever, he wanted something he'd never wanted before: the truth. He never thought of himself as a particularly brave man, but he never thought he'd be too cowardly to face reality.

And he had been.

Every time he'd brushed Jack's antics off as the works of a troublemaker, he'd been hiding from the truth, because deep down, he'd known, he'd always known that Jack Frost was hurting.

Behind the ice and snow and laughter, Jack had always been hurting and North hadn't cared one jot.

He'd instead acted like it was nothing to think about, nothing to be worried about, because he was just a stupid kid on the naughty list.

And that entire time, the boy had just been wanting North to look at him.

_If I had been there_, thought North, watching Jack talk and laugh with the others, _I could've prevented this shield. It's a terrible shield, really._

_An invisible one, a cold wall of glass._

_It's a shield made of bitterness, three hundred years of loneliness, anger and hurt. And the sad thing is I was really fooled. I honestly thought he was that happy._


	49. They Hurt You Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 49: They Hurt You Part 3 **

**You guys wanted to see the end of the arc, so here it is :) Sorry I skipped over the battle. I'm very tired... zzzzz**

**Anyway, I'm feeling slightly more awake now than I did five seconds ago, so I'm going to post this and hope for the best! Also, I hit 100 reviews! What do you suggest I do to celebrate? Eat a chocolate bar bigger than my head? Dance naked around the full moon? (Just kidding...!) Speak for an entire day in RotG quotes only? Start a new arc? Reply with a suggestion if you like and also, don't forget to drop by my profile and vote on my poll! Also, if there is anything you'd like to see here, be sure to drop a review telling me what it is and I'll try to get back to you! But I don't take slash, fem slash, fem!Jack (or any other male characters - or male!Tooth or something...no gender flips!) and I don't do anything that would bring this rating above a T. **

* * *

The victory was bittersweet.

"They hurt you," Pitch whispered after the battle, putting a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder. "They hurt you, Jack. They deserved this."

Jack tightened his lips and slung his staff over his shoulder. Time for another round of pretending. It was lucky he was good at hiding his emotions.

"Now," Pitch whispered, "now they're lying at our feet. This…Jack, this is what we always dreamed of! This…this…is what we always wanted! Look around you at the world! Doesn't it look different?"

Yes, indeed, it did look different. A strange kind of blackness was spreading over everything, so thick and dark it seemed to even have dimmed the moon.

Pitch danced excitedly around the deserted street, spotting Jamie's abandoned stuffed rabbit on the side of the road. He picked it up and carelessly ripped its head off, the stuffing coming out of its neck, looking strangely lopsided.

Pitch smiled grimly. "This," he hissed, tossing the rabbit's body and head back down, into a gutter filled with dirty snow, "this is what all our enemies will look like when we're through with them."

Jack swallowed, watching the white and gray mush wash over the animal.

_I should not have done this._

_I should not have done this._

_But they hurt you._

_That doesn't matter!_

_HE STRANGLED YOU._

_He didn't mean—_

_HE WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, JACK. _

The warring voices fought inside his head as Jack gazed sadly down at the bodies of the fallen Guardians. _Well, _said something else, a voice filled with regret in the back of his mind, quieter and wiser than the first two, _there's nothing you can do about it anyway._


	50. When No Lights Shine

**A/N: Chapter 50: When No Lights Shine **

***throws confetti* Guys, this is hands down the longest fanfiction I've ever written! I considered ending it here and felt empty at the very thought :-) This fanfic is one of the highlights of my life at the moment :-)**

**Oh, BTW, this poem is a poem from Pitch's POV for the 'They Hurt You' arc :-)**

* * *

You hurt the winter boy,

Now he's sobbing in my arms,

Where I promise to keep him safe,

Away from all harm.

* * *

He's lonely and he's scared,

So he thought to run to me,

You Guardians rejected him,

When he was saddened and lonely.

* * *

He was filled with uncertainty,

Now he's finally finding even ground,

I'm going to help him on his way,

I'm not letting him go down.

* * *

This winter spirit's power,

Is unrivaled by nearly all,

But he's still just a child, who, like any,

Will sometimes trip and fall.

* * *

But though he is a child,

And a child he may be,

He's stronger than you gave him credit for,

Now that he's sticking with me.

* * *

This winter boy you sold away,

This winter boy's power is mine,

Oh, what a dark day for you Guardians,

When the lights no longer shine.


	51. Goodbye Jack

**A/N: Chapter 51: Goodbye, Jack**

**Uh...I don't really know what to call this...I guess an angsty poem about Jack killing himself? I don't really like it, but :P**

* * *

When he woke in liquid darkness,

And saw the moon in all its brightness,

It left him in a world of heartache, pain, and loss,

It told him he was Jack Frost.

* * *

For three hundred years, that was all he knew,

He remained unseen by me and you.

The Guardians ignored him, he was completely alone,

Abandoned in this white world of snow.

* * *

The Guardians didn't come for him, when they swore to protect the kids,

He wonders how they could've done what they did.

They abandoned him and now, they're rejecting him again,

Casting him out, into a world of pain.

* * *

Goodbye, Jack Frost, we hardly knew you,

I'm sorry no one bothered to try to.

I'm sorry, Jack Frost, as you leave us behind,

I'm sorry we never saw you until you were ready to die.


	52. When Winter Spirits Get Bored

**A/N: Chapter 52: When Winter Spirits Get Bored**

**Um, since all this angsty poetry has started showing itself, I've realized what I really needed is to get out there and make a sweet one-shot full of fluff with some slight injured!Jack thrown in, just because I love writing injured!Jack so much. I prefer fatally injured, but a sprained wrist is good enough.**

* * *

It started the way trouble always seemed to: with Jack being bored.

It was a hot summer day and he was sticking around at the Pole after the Guardian meeting. Tooth and Sandy were getting ready to clear off, but both wanted to stick around, Tooth to make sure Jack was okay after this stunt and Sandy because he was thinking of doing it himself, but was using Jack as a test.

Bunny was watching because deep inside, he was seriously worried about the kid, but wouldn't admit it and pretended to be watching out of boredom.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tooth asked uncertainly. North was nowhere to be found, off making a toy or something, so Tooth was the one looking out for Jack's safety openly.

"Of course," Jack repeated impatiently, adjusting himself. "Just stand back and open a window. The wind will catch me."

Bunny opened the window and stood well back from the wooden stairs, watching slightly apprehensively. It was, after all, a set of wooden stairs and it had a polished, unforgiving hardwood floor if the wind failed to catch him.

He was just about to voice this thought when Jack gripped the edge of the wall and gave himself a little push.

He was sitting on the top step of a long flight of wooden stairs in the North Pole, in an old gray cart used for hauling groceries. He was planning to wheel himself down the stairs and see how it worked. Thus, the other Guardians watching.

As Jack's grocery cart began hurtling down the stairs, he was jolted with every step, but said nothing of the discomfort; it was kind of fun, after all, in a way.

As Bunny was watching, he slipped, realizing the elves had been recently scrubbing the floor; unfortunately, on his way down, in a desperate attempt to catch himself, he grasped at the window and managed to pull himself up, closing the window as he did so.

At that moment, he turned back around saw a blue, white and brown blur flying out of the grocery cart, launching himself out with a joyous laugh. He hit the wall opposite, slid down it and landed with a sickening crack on the floor. He didn't look so joyous anymore. In fact, his face was twisted in pain as he stood; clutching his strangely bent wrist, which Bunny suspected might be broken.

But then he dusted himself off with his other hand and grinned at them. "Well, Sandy! I'm sure I must've discouraged you from trying it!"

Sandy wasn't laughing, his eyes fixed uncertainly on Jack's injured arm.

Jack looked back down at it and formed a small snow pile, holding it against his wrist and leaning back against the wall, sighing in relief.

"What's that for?" asked Tooth, looking at the snow.

Jack opened one eye. "It's for the pain. Snow helps me heal within a few minutes."

Sandy looked impressed.

Jack barely seemed to care that he'd gotten injured; in fact, he was bouncing around the room ten seconds later, complaining of being bored and wanting to go again.

"Jack," Tooth began seriously, "Jack, no, I really don't think you should…"

"At least not until we get North to check it out," Bunny put in. "He'd want to know about this, ya know he would."

Jack stood up so fast, he nearly stumbled. "What? No! Guys, I'm serious, North doesn't need to know about this—

"I don't need to know about what?" asked a voice as the door opened. North stood in the doorway, arms crossed, blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Nothing," Jack said quickly, giving them all pleading looks.

Bunny didn't even look at him. "Jack hurt himself riding a grocery cart down a flight of wooden stairs." He made sure to emphasize the last two words so North wouldn't easily forget the kid's stupidity.

"Jack, why on earth would you…?" North began, looking scandalized.

Jack gave Bunny an 'I will kill you later' type look and quickly started soothing North. "No, Bunny's wrong, I…well, I did get kinda hurt, but it's ok, I healed it already, see?" he pointed to his wrist and North's eyes snapped down to it, examining the pale hand. With probing fingers and eyes, he examined the injury and when his thick fingers hit a certain spot, Jack winced and drew a sharp breath, pulling his hand away.

North watched him with folded arms. "Still think you've healed yourself? That didn't look healed to me, Jack."

Jack glared at him. "It's just tender! It only healed five minutes ago!"

North looked unimpressed. "I don't believe you," he stated. "C'mon, Jack, why don't you let it heal properly?"

Jack looked like a lost child for a minute, then admitted, "But I don't know how."

"What?" Bunny asked. "You're tellin' me you don't know basic first aid?"

Jack sighed, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve. "No. I mean, for a winter spirit, you slap snow on it and it should be alright. It never really heals it fully but it makes it better and takes away the pain."

Bunny just stared, while Tooth gasped and began fluttering around, muttering nonsensically about how they _must_ get Jack checked for diseases and crooked bones and all sorts of other medical junk while Jack stood there blinking dumbly, with North glaring sternly down at him and Sandy sitting back and watching the show.

Finally, Jack managed a smirk. "Guys, will you stop it? Sheesh! I'm fine!"

"Oh, no you're not," Tooth said firmly, wringing her hands in distress. "I mean, how can you be? Three hundred year old injuries…oh…" she began moaning sadly again and Jack left her to it, instead deciding to appeal to North.

"The least you could've done," North was saying, "was do it on _carpeted stairs_…"

Jack sighed and decided to try Sandy next, as Bunny's green eyes were glinting with anger and focused on Jack.

"Sandy, c'mon…this is totally ridiculous, right?" he appealed.

Sandy crossed his arms and gave him a 'well, you could've seriously hurt yourself' type look.

Jack sighed, realizing they were four against one and that he wasn't winning this argument. "Fine. Whatever. I guarantee that you guys' human treatments won't help nearly as much as snow."

In the end, he was resting a snowball on the injury when North disappeared and came traipsing back two minutes later with a disgruntled yeti carrying medical supplies.

Jack felt his face heat up, a bit of blue frost creeping up his cheeks to form a fully fledged winter spirit blush. "Oh, c'mon, North, I don't need that…"

North didn't reply and instead sat there wrapping the winter spirit's wrist in an Ace bandage and speaking rather stiffly to him whenever he asked a question.

Tooth was most reluctant to leave her poor injured friend, but had to go collect teeth.

Sandy left soon after and Bunny and North remained, both rather quiet.

"What's wrong, guys?" Jack finally asked, the silence getting to him.

"Do you realize how serious this injury could've been?" North demanded quietly in an 'I'm disappointed with you' sort of voice.

"You could've broken your neck!" Bunny howled furiously, pointing accusingly at him.

Jack sat through a two-hour long lecture, thirty minutes from North and an hour and a half from a furious Bunnymund, who eventually left, disgruntled and determined to go paint some eggs to relieve himself of this stress.


	53. Jack's Nightmares Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 53: Jack's Nightmares Part 1 **

**Uh...yeah...this is my newest arc :) *nervous smile* my best attempt...yeah, this is something I was role-playing...I got bored, picked up a plastic sword and began playing with it. It has a black handle and a black scabbard, so I nicknamed it the 'Shadow Blade' or Pitch's blade. I was goofing off and suddenly started playing a random scene where Pitch was like, in CHAINS and North was like, screaming at Jack to 'end it now!' and then I dragged props like a notebook into my skit and it got just like...so out of hand and Pitch was screaming and laughing and Jack was wavering and uncertain...I was alone, BTW. So I turned it into something sensible :) **

* * *

"Jack!" North cried. "Stop, you're gonna—

"Oops!" Jack cried. "S-sorry, North…"

He guiltily shoved the sword back in its scabbard.

"Never mind," growled North. "Maybe we should stop for today, Jack…"

"No!" Jack insisted. "I want to keep going, North, really I do! Unless you…don't want to teach me anymore…"

"That's not it," North said. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself!"

"I'm not going to!" Jack said. "I swear!"

"Fine," huffed North. "One more try. Parry left!"

Jack jerked his sword back and stepped back in a defensive stance at the same time, holding his sword in much the same way he would hold his staff, hands clasped defensively around the gold handle.

"Okay," North said, drawing his own sword. "Are you ready to fight me?"

Jack nodded, nervously tightening his fingers on the handle. He faced North, who did a quick thrust that Jack attempted to parry and failed.

He blew out a breath. "Sorry."

"Is fine," North replied impatiently, picking up Jack's sword and handing it back to him. Earlier that day, North had convinced Jack to allow him to teach him how to sword fight. He had used several arguments to convince the reluctant boy, including, 'your staff could get broken' and 'aren't you unable to fly without it?'

Jack parried North's next thrust with a quick lift, and North noticed that the boy was getting better. Where once his movements with the sword had been jerky and robotic, now he was relaxed and graceful.

"Good!" North clapped. Jack smiled and lowered his sword.

"Jack," North said reprovingly, aiming his sword straight at Jack's heart using a quick move. "You mustn't lower your sword for anything in a real fight, for once you do, your enemy will have a clear strike zone."

Jack nodded as North lowered his sword again, gripping it loosely in his hand.

"Now," North said, tucking his sword back into its scabbard. "A quick lunch, I think, then more?"

Jack nodded eagerly and they went back inside the Pole.

* * *

On that hot summer's day, Jack had never imagined he would be fighting for his life, against Pitch Black of all people; he hadn't really thought ahead this far.

He had gone back inside the Pole with North and things had happened very quickly then. Bunny had come, Jack had been rushed right back outside, under the blazing hot sun and North had cursed in Russian loads of times as they rushed for the sleigh; Jack only knew his words because he'd found a Russian dictionary a couple years back.

Tooth and Sandy had been anxious, and shadows had led them to this abandoned cliff side, this dry, baked earth that even now made Jack hotter.

He was sweating from the exertion, but he wasn't totally out of the woods yet: the sweat was taking longer to freeze than it normally did.

His staff lay discarded and Pitch was bearing down upon him, raising his great blackened sword to strike, to kill Jack, to hurt him…

"Jack!" cried out North, in total despair. Thank Man in Moon Pitch wasn't nearly as strong as last time, but he was still pretty strong. Nightmares were running loose.

He had clearly been feasting on fear for many months before this.

"Jack!" North cried, tossing him one of his swords. Jack caught it by the hilt and turned on Pitch, using a quick drag to defend himself, blades nearly touching, but not quite.

North couldn't have been prouder, but he was also slightly afraid of Jack losing.

Pitch stabbed his sword, not into Jack's unprotected heart, but instead into his hand, embedding the blade deeper and deeper, leaving Jack to cry out in agony.

It had never been Pitch's way to spare a child; what had caused this sudden change of heart?

Jack at last let his sword drop and Pitch smiled coldly down at his collapsed form, kicking out savagely at Jack as the boy's eyes fluttered closed and his breathing hitched; he was clearly in a great deal of pain.

His hands fisted and his eyes squeezed tighter shut.

Pitch, however, did not raise the sword to finish the job, but instead turned his magnificent blade upon the watching North, who quickly drew his own sword, backing away and preparing to do a lunge.

"Do you really want to challenge me?" laughed Pitch. "Do you really want to go the same way as your friend?" he gestured to Jack.

The frost boy lay upon the ground, whimpering and shaking, deeply asleep, or perhaps unconscious, but still breathing ragged, panting breaths.

"What did you do to him?" North demanded, staring in horror as Jack began pleading with unseen people, begging them not to leave him alone. Had Pitch given Jack a horrible nightmare or was it something worse, something darker?

"Nothing whatsoever," replied Pitch. "It was not ME who did something to him; why must you always think it is I?" his golden eyes glittered, but his voice sounded of self-pity.

"What," North demanded, carelessly disarming Pitch and pressing forward, "did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything!" Pitch repeated, angry now. "It was my sword!"

"Fine!" North spat angrily, eyes blazing. "What did your sword do, then?"

"It sent him into a place far beyond your reach!" Pitch was yelling now, no longer cold and callously amused, instead impatient and angry. "Into a world of his darkest nightmares!"

North gasped in horror, dropping his own sword. "Oh, Jack…"

Pitch slowly stood, golden eyes fixed on North. "Never," he repeated, snarling. "Drop your sword in a fight."

He raised the deadly blade, preparing to strike.


	54. Jack's Nightmares Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 54: Jack's Nightmares Part 2 **

**Um...continuation...part 3 is gonna go WAY ANGSTIER so buckle your seatbelts and wear a gas mask, people! WE DON'T WANT YOU SUFFOCATING FROM ALL THE ANGST NOW, DO WE? xD**

* * *

"Bunny!" North yelled. "Take Jack and GET OUT OF HERE! TAKE HIM TO THE POLE!"

Pitch had him cornered, now, and he was going the same way as Jack, he was sure of it…

But to his surprise, Pitch didn't attack him again. The pitch black fragments dancing in the blade had stopped and he was getting ready to fly away.

"Oh, hell no," North muttered under his breath, reaching for his own sword. He was NOT letting Pitch get away with what he'd done to Jack.

Pitch turned at the slicing sound of metal on metal, but seemed angry, not fearful. His sword had been cast aside and he was glaring at North, waiting for the blow. "Well?"

You see, a curious power this sword carried and with it a curious curse. It could attack mortals, and send them into worlds of their darkest nightmares; but it could only attack one immortal at a time and until they were released from their world of nightmares, until they were completely scared out, until the torture ended for them, the sword was powerless. Pitch had nearly forgotten that in his haste and it had nearly been his downfall.

And now he had no defense, except Nightmares, which circled him now, ready to defend.

North held the sword up, pressing into Pitch's windpipe. "Fix what you've done, you monster."

"I can't!" Pitch howled. "Once the sword touches unprotected skin, the person is cursed for however many days it takes for his fears to play through, or quit. Until then, I can't do anything!"

"You sick son of a—

"I thought you were a Guardian of children. A fine example you're setting."

North pressed the sword closer to his neck. "Keep talking and you're dead."

Pitch closed his mouth but gave North a grim smile. Just as North raised the sword, preparing to strike the final blow, a rabbit hole appeared beside them and Bunny jumped out. "Mate, I think you need to get back to the Pole," he said worriedly. "Tooth and Sandy are waitin' there."

North lowered his sword. "What? Why?"

"Jack needs ya, mate." For the first time, Bunny didn't call Jack a different, most likely offensive nickname, which worried North.

As he scampered down the rabbit hole after Bunny and they arrived at the Pole, he glanced around, noticing Jack curled up on the sofa, hands clenched into fists, but his lips weren't moving. In fact, all was still. Even Tooth was motionless, staring at where Jack lay.

His breathing was labored; every panting breath was an effort for the frost boy.

"Oh, no…" North whispered. He dropped his sword and ran over to Jack, arms on the boy's shoulders comfortingly.

Then, as he watched Jack struggling just to breathe, he whispered dangerously, "I should have killed him."

Bunny sat staring down at Jack in a trance, and suddenly Jack cried out in agony, a long, piercing scream. "NO!" he cried. "You can have me, kill me, but please…just spare them!"

He cried for a long time, black sand swirling above his head. North checked out one of the windows and saw Pitch standing there, drawn by Jack's childish fears.

He growled softly, sounding almost feral, as he grabbed one of his swords and started downstairs, but Bunny put a hand on his arm. "Mate, we gotta keep our heads. I wanna kill Pitch just as much as you do, but I don't think it's a good idea to leave Jack alone."

North wrestled with himself for several long minutes, eventually concluding that Bunny was right and he ought to be there for Jack instead. He eventually sat down by the couch again.

"Isn't there anything we can do for him?" Bunny whispered, watching the boy with a tortured look on his face. "Remedies, medicines, anything?"

"No," North snapped. Bunny's green eyes showed nothing but misery, and North knew, that, like him, they were just waiting for their winter boy to wake up.


	55. Jack's Nightmares Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 55: Jack's Nightmares Part 3 **

**Um, okay, so this is INSIDE his fears and nightmares, hence the angst and italics. It's kind of short, but longer than the first two. :)!**

* * *

**_Inside Jack's nightmares_**

"_You are hereby banished from the Guardians." And this time, there was no Bunny or North to tell him they'd meant it not, no comforting paw around the shoulders, no thick Australian or Russian accent telling him it was all right, that no harm was done and he was not doomed to a life of aloneness._

_It wasn't alright._

_He was trapped in a world of snow and ice and aloneness, a blank white landscape and somehow, all Jamie's friends and even the boy himself had grown older, too mature for the Guardians and most of all, Jack._

_They walked right through him._

"_Guys!" Jack shouted, "guys, it's me! Jack! Jack Frost! Please! Turn around and LOOK!" _

_But they looked not. They kept on with their lives, kept chattering to each other excitedly, all young adults, or even teens now, walking to and from school every day. _

_As Jack slowly froze into his isolation in the dead of winter, he threw snowballs at them. He made snow follow them around, he did everything he could to get them to look at him and they didn't._

_He'd thought it was hard before, before he knew the Guardians, but now it was worse. He'd had his first taste of freedom and friendship, his first taste of warmth in a cold world._

_And now it was ripped away from him, abandoning him into this endless winter once again. He cried out. He pleaded, "Don't leave me!" He begged and bargained, made empty threats and promises, and still the children walked right through him. The moon cast him away. The Guardians didn't want him._

_He was alone._

* * *

_Outside the Nightmares_

"Don't leave me alone!" Jack begged, tears threatening again. This particular nightmare was lasting forever, North thought, gazing down at the fitfully sleeping boy.

He kept begging the Guardians, Jamie, the moon, to look at him, and still, no one ever did. At least not in his dreams. And, in reality, not for three hundred years, either, North thought, lowering his eyes.

* * *

_**Inside Jack's nightmares**_

"_Let's see why one of your worst fears is that someone asks you to take off your hoodie." Trick said teasingly, ripping it off. Only this time, there was no Bunny to save him. There was just him, because the Guardians really didn't want him, they didn't CARE about him, they NEVER cared and how stupid WAS HE to think that they had? _

_There was just him, alone with Trick and Treat and his scars._

* * *

_Outside the nightmares_

"No," Jack muttered, gripping the sofa cushions harder. "Please…Trick…please…don't take it off..."

Bunny clenched his paws into fists, vividly recalling a few months back when Trick and Treat had attacked Jack.

And right after they'd pulled that dumb prank…that was, perhaps, one of Bunny's biggest regrets, the prank. He swiped a paw over his tired green eyes.

* * *

**_Inside Jack's nightmares_**

_No. _

_No. _

_It couldn't be happening…_

_The Guardians couldn't be…_

"_Guys!" Jack pleaded. "Guys, no, I'm like you, I'm a spirit…an immortal, a Guardian, I…"_

"_Jack Frost is of no importance," said North coldly, eyes flicking around. "He has forgotten us, so, in turn, we must forget him."_

"_No!" Jack cried. He screamed as though his world was shattering around him and to him, it was. "No! I never forgot you! NEVER! EVER!"_

_He screamed and cried, begged for them to hear him, even reached out to them, but his outreaching fingers were met with a cold wall of glass…_

"_No! NO! HEAR ME! I NEVER…NEVER…EVER…PLEASE!" _

"_Oh, you poor, poor child…" Pitch whispered sympathetically, golden eyes smooth and warm as honey. "Poor Jack Frost, alone in the world…again…"_

"_No!" Jack sobbed. "No! I'm not alone! I'm NOT!"_

"_You've been abandoned by every being you know," Pitch whispered. "Jamie shrinks away from you, you have broken your vow as a Guardian and even the moon can no longer bear to look down at the world you have wrought havoc upon!" Pitch pointed to the sky, where the moon hid its face behind a cloud._

"_Broken…my…vow?" Jack repeated slowly. "How…?"_

"_Look below you, Jack. How can you call yourself a Guardian?" _

_Jack looked down and saw bones beneath his bare feet. The bones of a child. A wave of sickening dizziness swept over him as he made the connection between the Guardians determined to ignore him, the moon shielding its eyes from the horrid sight and the blood on his hands._

* * *

_Outside Jack's nightmares_

"No…no…" Jack sobbed, twisting and writhing on the couch, fingers clutching invisible things, crying and sobbing over a new horror. "No…hear me…I would never…no, not ever…"

Bunny stood at last, angered now. "We can't just stand by and do nothing!" he screamed. "We've got to TRY to help him!"

"Pitch says there's nothing to be done," North replied shortly, but he stood, too.

Tooth, glad to be moving at last, fluttered to her feet and followed them. "What do we do? Bunny? North? Sandy, guys, what do we do? I mean…?" she looked around at them all, helpless now. "North, I…"

In her despair, she was falling to pieces.

We all are, thought North, looking sadly at the winter boy curled up on the couch. And Jack…poor Jack is the most shattered one of all.


	56. Jack's Nightmares Part 4

**A/N: Chapter 56:J Jack's Nightmares Part 4**

**Um...this is a fun little chap :) Well, not for Jack or the Guardians, but you know what I mean :D it'll be fun for us! xD**

* * *

**_Inside Jack's Nightmares_**

_The spirits came. _

_It was June Sunshine and Genevieve Bloom, the spirits of spring and summer._

_June held a mirror and chanted at the glass, conjuring flames, black and gold flames, which thrust themselves hungrily at Jack with greedy tongues._

_He was so horrified at her power, he screamed and smashed the glass with his staff, but that only made her angrier, though it killed the flames…_

_She launched herself upon him and instead raised up his shirt, cutting any exposed skin with the shards, dragging the glass roughly into his skin, causing as much pain as possible._

_He screamed aloud and she silenced him. He wouldn't fight back, no…_

_He wouldn't fight her, for a duel between summer and winter could end up being fatal to both proud spirits. Not to mention, a guy just doesn't fight a girl._

_Genevieve Bloom burned him, as spring will burn winter._

_June Sunshine sliced him open, as summer will do ice._

_When they were gone, he summoned what was left of his pride, dignity and broken life and rebuilt, from the ashes, a better one. Still the life of a nomad, yes, but…_

_Scars lurked behind Jack's long sleeves._

_And he never dared roll them up, for fear of anyone seeing…_

* * *

_Outside the Nightmares_

"I'm getting better, though," Jack whispered.

The arguing Guardians all turned to their sleeping little winter spirit, so afraid for him. None of them had slept. None of them had eaten. The yetis had offered them cookies and sometimes, they would eat them mechanically, saying 'thank you' in monosyllables.

But for the most part, their eyes never strayed from their frost boy.

For it had been a week, and any day now, he would wake up.

Tooth and Sandy left a few times, for a short while to complete their jobs, but North and Bunny kept watch twenty-four seven.

Their little winter spirit was going to wake up. He was well guarded.

* * *

**_Inside Jack's nightmares_**

_The water was so thick, so dark, so dark, so dark, the ice above him offered little comfort and he was so scared, so scared, so scared, he begged and pleaded with the moon, anything, anything at all to get him out of this, begged and cried and still, nothing moved. No help came. He was alone. _

_He tried freezing the water around him. No ice came. No help came._

_He tried cracking the ice above him. No cracks came. No help came._

_No help came._

_No help at all…_

_He was dying for the second time and nobody cared._

_No help was coming…_

_No help ever._

* * *

_Outside the nightmares_

"No…help…ever…" Jack whispered.

"We've got to help him," Tooth whispered sadly, tracing circles on the boy's cheek. He didn't react.

That was worried them most: how little he reacted.

They had done everything they could to wake him, and nothing worked.

They couldn't help him. They couldn't do anything for the poor boy. He was just going to have to live out his nightmares.

* * *

**_Inside Jack's Nightmares_**

_Chunks of flesh._

_Broken, white teeth._

_Broken bones. And blood. So much blood. Bruises._

_So many bruises._

_Dark spots of color on his pale skin._

_The furry fists hammering on his body. The pain. The throbbing that slowly turned to a dull ache._

_He wanted to jump up and save himself. But he couldn't. He couldn't save himself. It was utterly impossible to move, not in this pain…_

_Bunny grabbed him by the throat, hurling him down amidst the cracked eggs. "SEE HERE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!" he howled. "YOU MADE THE CHILDREN LOSE HOPE! NOW THEY'VE ALL LOST HOPE!" _

_Jack felt the frozen tears building up in his eyes. "Bunny—_

"_I knew," hissed the rabbit, glaring at him with those bright green eyes, "I KNEW, just KNEW that you were nothing but trouble."_

_Jack bit his lip, listening to the terrible words the rabbit spewed and taking them to be the truth._

_There was no help coming._

_Just him and Bunny, alone in the midst of the broken and cracked eggs, Jack sobbing and Bunny yelling, furious._

_Alone except for an angry Bunnymund. And what else was new?_

_No one was coming to save him, wasn't that much crystal clear?_

_Why, why, why was he so stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid enough to follow that voice, that voice, that voice that led him to Pitch's lair, to never-ending darkness, darkness, darkness, that led him to fear, to fear, to fear and shadows._

_Why had he done it? _

_Why, why, why?_

* * *

_Outside the Nightmares_

Jack kept sobbing, curled up on the sofa, whatever dream he was having still torturing him. The odd thing was, no one could tell whether Jack was awake, deeply asleep, or…something else. They tried not to dwell on that 'something else' part, for fear a new horrifying idea would occur to them.

Jack finally opened his mouth and what came tumbling out wasn't a pleading to not leave him alone, which he'd been saying off and on for hours now, but instead a name. "Bunny," Jack breathed feverishly, "please…"

Bunny stood, face pinched in rage and frustration, unsure what Jack was dreaming about. "Please," Jack pleaded, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry about…this…" he swept a hand out in his sleep, indicating the North Pole. "I…I…" his bottom lip trembled and his face pinched in fear again. "Don't…please…I know…I d-deserve it…"

"Mate?" Bunny whispered tentatively, bending over the boy. "Mate…" he wasn't sure if Jack was waking up, but the fact that the winter spirit was moving at all was a very good sign. "C'mon…" he nudged Jack, and his paw trailed lightly over the nightmare sand swirling above his head.

A swirling vortex of blurry shapes and color came into view before them and it turned into a screen. The screen featured a sobbing, bloodied Jack with fear in his bright blue eyes and Bunny, standing over him yelling, shaking a fist. "You destroyed it!" Bunny was yelling. "You destroyed Easter!"

Jack was flinching away from him and the real Bunny bit his lip, gently reaching out to see what happened…

The swirling vortex pulled him in, literally inside Jack's dream and he fell into the nightmare sand with a shout.


	57. Inside Jack's Nightmares

**A/N: Chapter 57: Inside Jack's Nightmares**

**So, this poem is...not my best work :/ **

**Oh, this is a poem for the 'Nightmares' arc xD xD I'm quite pleased with the idea behind it xD**

**Also, to all you people who claim you CAN'T WRITE POETRY, you CAN. Just settle down with a blank notebook whenever you want to write and the words will come. I promise. That's how I got started! Oh, God, if you guys could see my very first notebook which I kept my poetry in... :P **

* * *

Inside Jack's nightmares is a dark, dark place,

You won't find happiness there.

So enter at your own risk,

Yes, enter if you dare.

* * *

Pitch Black made him this way,

Now he's forever cursed.

Whenever anybody tries to help him,

They only make it worse.

* * *

It never used to be this way,

Life was never good for the winter spirit, but it was ok.

Now he's trapped in a world full of his childish scares,

The other Guardians only wish they were inside Jack's nightmares.


	58. Jack's Nightmares Part 5

**A/N: Chapter 58: Jack's Nightmares Part 5**

**Okay, so the arc is ending very soon, but I've had SUCH fun with it, you guys have no idea! xD Actually, I've really been trying to make Jack's fears, nightmares and memories as close to the character as possible, but I don't know how I did...anyone want to tell me?**

***clears throat* anyway, sorry for that rather abrasive last AN.**

* * *

The other Guardians exchanged frightened looks. "What just…?" North whispered. "What just happened?"

He was voicing everybody's thoughts, Tooth realized as she fluttered anxiously to hover next to Jack. "I don't know," she whispered back, scared.

Little did these Guardians know of the two Guardians trapped in a nightmare world.

* * *

Little did one of _those_ Guardians know what he was seeing. He was simply staring at the scene before him, at the sobbing Jack and the yelling Bunny. It was absurd, as if he were seeing himself. For a long moment, Bunny saw nothing but this, then walked quickly forward, as if he'd been planning this all along, and tapped Jack on the shoulder.

Except he didn't, not really, because his paw went right through Jack's shoulder.

He gasped. Jack didn't hear or feel anything and, so, little by little, the yelling decreased in volume until he was sucked back into a world of dark and cold and thrust into a dark cave with dripping red walls that Bunny instantly recognized as Trick and Treat's abode.

"Jack?" he called.

Trick laughed cruelly at Jack's wide eyes, at the fear rolling off him in waves. "You're not getting help, you know. There's no help coming." He lowered his voice to a whisper with those last three words, smirking rather meanly as he did so. Jack flinched away from him, but sat there quite rigidly after a second, staring at Trick with shadowed eyes. "So?" he croaked. "What are you going to do with me? Last I checked, Trick's legendary Halloween pranks don't just end after the butt-kicking."

He didn't have his staff, which seemed to make him uncomfortable; he kept shifting, fixing his eyes on Trick, suspicious.

Trick smirked. "Well, yeah, you're half-right," he said. "My pranks usually end after that. I normally let the victim crawl away, then, too weak to walk. But no, Jack, I've made up a very special prank for you…"

"Why for me?" whispered Jack.

"Did I ever mention," Trick asked, carelessly twiddling a dagger he'd pulled out of seemingly nowhere, "how much I despise snowfalls on October 31st?"

Jack swallowed. Bunny could almost hear his heart thumping painfully fast inside his chest and realized, with a shock, how scared the boy was. This, he realized, must be the Halloween of '88, when they'd pulled the prank on him.

Bunny half-wished this was real, so he could kill Trick.

"So?" he whispered. "Just because I pissed you off with a few early snowfalls, you're gonna…you're gonna…do this? Kick my ass and pull this prank on me?"

"Oh, no, Jack," Trick said, as though he couldn't imagine being that mean. "No, I'm not going to just pull a prank on you. I'm going to kill you." Trick and Jack had had their long history, which went way farther back than just a few snowfalls and judging by that history, now, Jack knew he was going to be as good as his word.**  
**

He grabbed Jack up, dagger pointing at his heart. "Up."

Jack stumbled to his feet and stared at him, blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Give me my staff."

Trick smirked. "Yeah. Not." He prodded Jack in the back with the dagger and Bunny heard the winter spirit inhale sharply; it must have broken the skin. "Walk." Trick commanded.

They walked out of the cave and into the open air, where snow was gently falling. Kids were running around, trading Halloween candy out of their buckets.

Trick eventually grabbed Jack's arm and twisted it painfully behind his back, but in a flash, they were gone and Bunny was taken with them.

They wound up in a desert, where nothing moved. Everything was still and silent.

"Alright, Frost," Trick whispered, "look at you. No staff, no one else around – you're barely able to walk. You'll be dead soon. It's okay – you won't suffer too much…unfortunately." He grinned and departed in a bang and a flash of orange light and Jack fell to the ground, clutching his side and panting heavily.

After awhile, Bunny heard him quietly sobbing, his chest heaving with ragged, rapid breaths, panicking.

Bunny so badly wanted to help, but knew it was hopeless: he had all the proof he needed that no one here could see him.

Bunny sat down next to him, trying not to panic, for he knew there was nothing he could do. A cold desert wind blew, causing him to shiver. It ruffled Jack's hair, but the boy, sobbing and shivering, had no wish to be comforted and without his staff, the wind was powerless. It couldn't support his weight entirely, after all – only his staff could do that.

After a few hours, the air became stiflingly hot and nothing breathed. Even Bunny was feeling a bit too warm now, he thought to himself.

But poor Jack, being a winter spirit; he was already half-asleep, eyes threatening to flutter closed when a sudden wind made Bunny glance up and he saw Jack looking up, too, eyes trickling tears.

A girl of about nineteen was wandering by. She was beautiful, with long, curly red hair, warm brown eyes and freckles. Her shin-high brown leather boots pounded on the sand as she spotted Jack, gave a small shriek and flew towards him.

She raced over to him and checked his pulse, his breathing, wiping his hair off his sweaty forehead. Bunny was just realizing that this was a spirit when the girl pulled the half-conscious boy into her arms and flew away with him, and Bunny was irresistibly pulled forward, though he would much rather have stayed behind than keep peering into Jack's private fears and memories.

They were brought to a rather cool, windy forest that felt pleasant after the stiflingly hot desert. Leaves kept falling off trees as the spirit passed; her presence seemed to cause them to crumble and turn brown, dying before they even hit the ground.

She laid Jack down on the cool grass and stripped off his hoodie without blinking. She paused, hesitating a little because of the scars, but eventually just blew a cool breeze around him, causing him to wake.

He sat up, rubbing his head and when he saw her, he flinched a little, as if expecting her to start beating him as well.

She gave him a friendly smile, clearly not caring about the scars, and handed him back his hoodie. "I wouldn't recommend putting that back on until you've cooled off," was all she said.

"How'd I get here?" he asked. "Who are you?"

"You got here because I brought you, and I'm Victoria Fall, bringer of autumn," she replied. "Of course, I know who you are. Jack Frost. I've heard tales, mostly from June Sunshine." At these words, she wrinkled her pretty, freckled nose.

"None of which are true," Jack said quickly.

"No," she said with a smile, and everything began going cold and dark again before Bunny was deposited onto a cold, icy ground. He pulled himself up and saw Jack standing well back from the spirit talking.

Then, the other Guardians landed beside him with a soft thump.


	59. Jack's Nightmares Part 6

**A/N: Chapter 59: Jack's Nightmares Part 6**

**UGHHHHHHHH**

**:P That was me conveying my displeasure with this :P I tried ending it here, but the arc just kept going and going and going and going and going and going...you get my drift...well...I really didn't like the Guardians in this chapter...:P but I liked Jack! And I liked the chapter itself! Just...not the Guardians... :P**

* * *

It was the fear that haunted them most. Jack's fear, tangible, touchable in so many ways as he was locked in this world of nightmares, it was that that made them all hesitate.

They had been stuck inside the nightmare world for at least two hours and nothing showed a sign of relenting.

Of course, Bunny thought, if they were going through all Jack's worst fears, naturally, it would take awhile for all the fears to run through…

He closed his eyes, massaging his temple. He really hadn't wanted to see anything at all, but he and the other Guardians had been forced to watch, like a slap in the face from Manny himself as they failed him again and again.

How many yearly visits had he gotten from the other seasonal spirits now? With the obvious exception of Victoria Fall.

How many times had they watched him form a knife out of ice and cut himself?

How many times had they watched him create blizzards, trying to get the other spirits' attention? How many times had they watched themselves reject him, sneer at his shameful scars?

How many times had his fear of being alone come back to haunt him?

How many times had they faced Bunny or North yelling at Jack, beating him or at least threatening to?

And how many times, Bunny wondered, would they see the moon leaving Jack alone to his icy terror?

How deep could this fear run?

* * *

At one point, just when they'd entered the nightmare world, North had tried to get Jack's attention and failed as badly as Bunny. They were the ones unseen, the ones being walked through now.

For Bunny, it was torture. Just _sitting there_ and _watching_ was not in the rabbit's nature. He was the kind of person who got things done, not just twiddling his thumbs while somebody _else_ did the work.

That wasn't the kind of thing he liked doing. He preferred to be part of the action, part of the work, but he couldn't do anything but _sit there _and _watch_ and it was killing him.

Tooth was just worried, falling to pieces in her worry for Jack. It was killing Bunny to watch her cry.

North was going out of his mind, trying to think of a way to reach Jack, but every time they seemed to have thought of a way, it hit a dead end.

Sandy was just trying to reach him through tendrils of Dreamsand, face pinched in worry for their cold friend.

Eventually, North's frantic pacing, Tooth's crying, Sandy's worry and Bunny's panic just…stopped.

They lost it. They lost what kept them going. What was the point, they wondered, of doing something if the person you needed to speak to right then couldn't even hear what you were saying?

What was the point of being there if they couldn't be seen?

What was the point? That was the question none of them could answer and so, slowly, they all gave up.

It wasn't a one-by-one thing; it was a collective breath they'd all been holding that they suddenly released; it was a silent surrender as they all sat there on the icy lake, closing their eyes and ears, trying not to see Jack's tears or hear his screams.

Because they knew they'd caused them.

They all wanted so badly to comfort Jack, but they couldn't reach him. He was lost.

It was in the middle of a particularly awful nightmare that Bunny's eyelids flickered, that his ears pricked up and he realized he was making a mistake. He wasn't sure where his mind had come to this sudden thought, but it had.

He took a deep breath, sat up, and really looked. He forced himself to watch as the spirits kicked Jack's arse, as they bloodied him up, as they left him sobbing on his frozen lake. He watched as Jack made a blizzard and waited for Bunny to get wind of it, waited for the boy to get lectured. He watched as he left him broken and alone, he watched as he failed the boy and _he accepted it._

It wasn't without guilt that he looked at Jack and thought, _I did this._

But he realized he could do nothing about it, that his guilt was useless; it would change nothing.

He just wished that he wouldn't be stupid enough to sit on the sidelines a second time. Here was his chance to change things. He didn't know about the others, he thought, looking down at them. But he, E. Aster Bunnymund, was going to change things. Jack wasn't going to have to do it all alone.


	60. Fear

**A/N: Chapter 60: Fear**

**Um, since I was hitting the sixty mark, I thought I'd write a little drabble. This is SO not my fault, okay? I was watching RotG yesterday and I don't know if anyone else noticed this...when Jack saw North coming at him during his "wonder" speech, his eyes went wide and he looked afraid, as if he expected North to start beating him or something.**

**ALSO YES I AM GOING TO UPDATE JACK'S NIGHTMARES JUST GIVE ME A LITTLE WHILE, ALRIGHT? I TRIED WRITING THE END OF THE ARC AND THIS CRAPBUCKET THAT CALLED ITSELF AN ENDING SPILLED OUT ONTO MICROSOFT WORD AND JUST...UGHHHH. **

**Lol. Okay. I'm done now. **

* * *

It was something small. North wouldn't have noticed it had his eyes strayed from Jack's face for one second. But his eyes never left Jack's, so he caught it.

It was such a tiny thing, really and it shouldn't have troubled North the way it did.

It was fear.

Just a quick flash in Jack's bright blue eyes, turning them stormy gray for just a millisecond before they went back to blue. Defiant, angry blue.

As the door slammed shut behind him, Jack turned to watch it.

Then North cornered him and he saw it. The quick flash. Fear.

Jack's eyes screamed it as North cornered him, pinned him against the door. "Who are you, Jack Frost?"

Then it went back to defiant, angry blue. Jack Frost didn't feel fear. At least, not to other people.


	61. Arms Wide Open Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 61: Arms Wide Open **

**Okay, this little crapbucket was born from me role-playing this morning. Jack got sick and was planning to go to Antarctica. There were more father/son feels in my role-play, but more North AAAAAAANGST in this one, and angst _always_ wins over feels. Also, this is set before the 'Jack's Nightmares' arc. AND YES I WILL COMPLETE IT...maybe. But seriously, what the bleep do you think Bunny's going to DO in the 'Nightmares' arc? JACK CAN'T SEE HIM. HE'S IN A FRIGGIN WORLD OF NIGHTMARES. HOW ON EARTH CAN BUNNY JERK HIM OUT OF THAT? **

* * *

North was going upstairs to wake Jack in the early morning when he saw the boy, looking faintly green and very sick, balancing on the window ledge.

"Jack!" North called, crossing the room in two strides and staring at him. "What are you doing? You look ill! Get down from there!"

Jack reluctantly climbed off, coughing badly. His body shook with the coughing. "Ugh…I'll be fine, I'm just gonna…go to Antarctica…."

"Jack?" North questioned.

"I'll be fine," Jack insisted. "It's just my midsummer sickness!"

North's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Midsummer sickness?"

Jack sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed, fingers playing with the sheets. "I just…well…every year, I get really sick…like, really sick, because of summer and heat, no matter where I am…and I was in Burgess for a long time yesterday, talking with Jamie…"

He hacked again, covering his mouth. "And don't worry, it's not anything you can catch," he added quickly to North. "But it's just…ugh…it makes you feel awful…"

"I'm sorry," North whispered. "I…I didn't know…"

"S'okay," Jack mumbled. "It's not like it's anything big."

North looked displeased. "Still…"

"I'll be fine," Jack said, standing. "I've just got to get Antarctica."

"Why can't you stay here?" North asked.

Jack looked confused. "Because it's what I do?"

"You can't stay here this once?"

"No, I can't," Jack said, starting to get a bit angry now.

"Jack, c'mon. You're sick. I don't want you going off alone while you're sick…"

"I'll be fine!" Jack snapped.

"What's so wrong with doing something to ease my mind? It won't be any different. I'll put snow on you or whatever you do to keep yourself good…"

"It will be different!" Jack said angrily.

"How?" North demanded. Why was Jack acting so petulant about all this?

"Because it just…it will be," Jack said lamely. "It just…I…listen, I don't want to stay here, alright?"

"Do you not want to live with me anymore?" asked North, tilting his head. "Because I completely understand…" he swallowed back his emotions. "But I can't let you be on your own…all the danger you get yourself in?"

Jack glared at him. There was a long silence.

"Is there another reason why you won't stay here?" North persisted, seeing a certain kind of fear in Jack's eyes. "Are you…okay?"

"I'm fine." Jack snapped.

"Jack…you know you can talk to me—

"Listen, you're not my dad, so just stop acting like you are!" Jack yelled suddenly. Then he ran off, out the window, flying away.

North could hear the coughing racking his body as he flew, his shoulders shaking…

North just stood there, dumbstruck. Had Jack really just said what he thought he did?

North had thought Jack kind of saw him like a dad, the same way he saw him as a son. Was he wrong?

He swallowed and slowly walked out, leaving the window open in case his winter spirit decided to come back home.


	62. Arms Wide Open Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 62: Arms Wide Open Part 2**

**Well, this is more brotherly!Bunny than fatherly!North, but the fatherly!North is coming...I swear...! I role-played large parts of this to get a feel of it, but...you know...mostly I just wrote it...I don't know how well in-character I kept Jack...and Bunny for that matter, though I have a bit more confidence in Bunny...yeah...**

**P.S: I'm so sorry about not updating yesterday...I had a bit of family emergency...a lot of crap was going on in our house last night...**

**P.P.S: Sorry I totally ignored the 'summer in one hemisphere' thing. I'm easily confused and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me...**

* * *

The next day, Jack came back to the Pole. He didn't ever speak to North; he didn't speak to anyone, really. He couldn't be bothered with teasing the elves or yetis.

When North called a Guardian meeting, Jack only came at the last second.

"What's up, Frost?" called Bunny, spotting Jack.

Jack threw himself into a chair and said, "Sky. Birds. Clouds—

"Yeah, yeah, never mind," grumped Bunny, turning away from him.

The meeting continued like always, but there was something noticeably different this time: Jack and North didn't speak to each other. They didn't make eye contact and Jack hardly spoke at all.

When the meeting was ending, Bunny walked over to Jack. "Frost?" he said tentatively. "I uh…I…I mean, what's wrong? Because, mate, in all honesty, you're acting a little…strange."

Jack shrugged listlessly. "There's nothing wrong."

Bunny crossed his arms, giving Jack a look. "Oh, c'mon, kid. I wasn't born yesterday."

"That's news to me, Kangaroo," Jack replied, a shadow of his old smile creeping into his face.

"There you go," Bunny encouraged. "There's that Jack smile that means you're going to mock me."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"So, seriously, what happened?" Bunny asked.

"Nothing," Jack snapped.

"Somethin' is going on between you and North, kid, and it's eatin' ya both alive. Why don't you just try to talk about it? If you tell me what it is, I might be able to help."

Jack bit his lip, a painful struggle ensuing in his mind. If he told Bunny what it was, Bunny might think he was being a dramatic, whiny kid.

If he didn't tell Bunny what it was, he was going to go crazy soon from keeping it inside.

It actually wasn't normal for Jack to need to talk to somebody about things; he sorted out his own problems and expected other people to, too.

But this time was slightly different.

"Fine," Jack said, dissolving the last of his pride into nothing. "I...I told North he wasn't my dad and to stop acting like it. There."

"Jeez, kid," Bunny muttered. "What are you tryin' to do?"

Jack sighed miserably.

"Why'd you even say that, Frost?" asked Bunny.

Jack chewed his lip. "I just…well…North was trying to convince me to stay at the Pole because of this sickness I get every summer…and I…I was trying to convince him to rack off a little…and let me go…because I don't like being near people in summer…" Jack was skating around the real reason now and he knew it. "…and so I used those words to make him let me go." He finished defiantly.

Bunny groaned loudly. "Kid…"

"I know, it was stupid of me!" Jack snapped.

By now, Tooth and Sandy had departed and North had left the room without even looking at either Bunny or Jack.

"Let's take this conversation into the Warren," suggested Bunny.

Ten minutes later, Jack was telling the story again, with Bunny making small noises of protest in between.

"Frost," Bunny said when Jack had finished, "why don't you like being near people in summer? I mean…I know it might be stupid, but…" his voice trailed off.

Jack absently froze one of Bunny's eggs and tossed it at him. "I don't know…it's just…stuff happens in summer…and…" he shifted uncomfortably as Bunny caught the egg one-handed.

"Don't throw my eggs, mate," Bunny growled at him. "And what do you mean, stuff happens in summer?"

"Sorry. And…you know…stuff...June Sunshine…"

"June Sunshine?" Bunny's brow wrinkled. "I've heard a bit abou' her from Tooth. She doesn't seem very…"

"Nice?" Jack offered.

"Social," Bunny said instead.

Jack snorted. "Well, you're not very social and you're way nicer than her." Then he seemed to realize what he said. He blushed furiously. "That's…that's only showing how rude she is…" he protested weakly.

Bunny smirked. "Yeah, yeah, Frost. I'll let you have it this time, okay?"

Jack sighed in defeat.

Bunny was smiling fondly as he replied, "Now, c'mon, Frost. What's all this about June Sunshine?"

"She's just…there a lot in summer…visits me a lot…" Jack replied edgily.

Bunny snorted a little and leaned closer to Jack. "Are you telling me she visits you every summer to…to…" he was lost for words.

"To kick my ass?" snapped Jack. "Yes."

There was silence.

"And if you laugh, Kangaroo, I'll tie your ears in a knot while you sleep," Jack replied defiantly.

"Why would I laugh?"

"Because," Jack replied slowly, "because for one, it's a girl beating up on this winter spirit. If you must know, I won't fight her because she's a girl!" Jack was spilling out way more than he meant to now. "And…second…because it's the Guardian you hate who's dealing with this and I'm sure you'd love to see it…"

The other words ran together for Bunny. "You honestly think I hate you?" he snapped. "Mate, I could never care more about you! I'll admit, when you first joined us, I thought you were just a useless idiot who wasn't gonna help at all, but now I see I was wrong. I judged you harshly and treated you wrongly, Jack. But that doesn't mean I hate you."

Jack swallowed.

Bunny ruffled his hair. "Now why don't we go back to the Pole and you can explain to North why you ran out on him and yelled at him?"

Jack let out a breath. "Bunny…I can't."

"And why not?" asked Bunny.

"Because…well…because…"

"Yeees?" Bunny dragged the word out in hopes that Jack would stop stuttering and agree.

"Because what if he doesn't want me anymore?"

"Oh, Frostbite," Bunny sighed.


	63. The Story of Jack Frost

**A/N: Chapter 63: The Story of Jack Frost**

**So...this is an angsty poem to make up for not updating yesterday...**

* * *

Tell me, you Guardians,

Of his three centuries alone,

Tell me of how he got lost,

When he searched for home.

* * *

Tell me of his nomad life,

Tell me of the scars behind his sleeves,

Tell me of the way he wandered alone,

Tell me of the way the kids never believed.

* * *

Tell me of his scars of darkness,

Tell me of his meager light,

Tell me of his isolation,

Of his life lived in eternal night.

* * *

Tell me of his bruises,

Tell me of his pain,

Tell me of his fear,

Tell me of his gain.

* * *

Tell me this, just please tell me,

Tell me of how rarely he laughs,

Tell me how fake are his smiles, his tears that go unseen,

Tell me just how you shattered Jack.


	64. Arms Wide Open Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 64: Arms Wide Open Part 3 **

**Okay. This is the last bit of the arc. It's incredibly feelsy, because feels just, like, kind of attacked me halfway through.**

* * *

Jack looked nervous as Bunny shoved him out of the hole, into North's workshop.

He had assured Jack North wouldn't be mad, that he would still want him, that nothing was changed.

Jack nervously leaned over and tapped North's shoulder. "N-North?" he stuttered.

North looked up from his ice toy, but didn't put the chainsaw down. "What?"

Close up, Jack saw the Guardian of Wonder looked tired and pale.

"I-I'm sorry about what I said…you not being my dad…"

"No, Jack, I'm sorry," North said. "I shouldn't be doing this. I knew, when I offered you a place to stay, it'd be…easy for you to grow attached…but I completely understand, you don't want to replace your father, the one you had as a human. It's natural for you, Jack, to want to put some distance between us…you know, that's okay…"

"North, no!" said Jack, looking scandalized. "No! You're not replacing my dad, you ARE my dad! I don't even remember what my real father looked like! I don't want to put some distance between us! I liked that! I liked the way you treated me! I didn't mean to push you away."

North stared at him for a second. "Okay. Good." He turned away and focused once more on his ice toy.

"North?" Jack whispered. "North!" he yelled louder, to be heard over the buzzing of the chainsaw.

North stopped and looked at him. "What?"

Without the familiar buzzing of the chainsaw or the grunting of the yetis and the ringing of the elves' bells, it felt like the North Pole was empty.

"I'm sorry. Honest. I didn't mean to push you away. I want you to be my dad."

The last few words were said in slow motion to North, but to Jack, they sounded so stupid, so silly and childish. Of course, North wouldn't want to play daddy to a useless winter spirit.

He was Santa Claus! He had better things to do!

Jack quickly bit his lip. "Yeah, you're right, maybe there ought to be some distance…"

North placed his chainsaw down, slow and deliberate. Then, before Jack could stop him, he'd hugged him tightly, big hands wrapped around the boy's cold shoulders, his skinny waist.

"My poor boy," whispered North, squeezing Jack so tightly he couldn't breathe, "so frightened and alone."

"Thanks, North." Jack whispered as the man pulled away.

"For what?" asked the big man.

"For…for letting me stay…"

"Don't," he whispered. "Don't."

"Okay." Jack nodded. So he didn't.


	65. Jack's Nightmares Part 7

**A/N: Chapter 65: Jack's Nightmares Part 7**

***cue cheering* this has been hanging over me for so long! I GOT IT DONE. I FINISHED THE NIGHTMARES ARC! **

* * *

Just as Bunny stood to approach Jack, he was kicked out of the world and suddenly found himself back in the North Pole.

The moon shone down on him and it seemed to be saying something not even a Guardian could understand. _You've learned what to do next time Jack Frost is alone, _the moon seemed to say, _and your lesson is learned._

Bunny sighed, his ears going flat against his head. He really didn't want to just sit here, waiting for the other Guardians.

There was a loud knock on the door. "Uh…come in," Bunny called.

A yeti bustled inside, talking in garbled gibberish. Then he seemed to catch sight of Jack on the sofa and gave a horrified yell, running over to him, bending down and prescribing all sorts of medications from Tylenol to a sleep aid.

Just as he was telling Bunny where to get Benadryl and Ibuprofen, Bunny cut in. "Yeah, thanks mate, but he doesn't need medicine. He'll be fine." Even as he said it, Bunny felt a jolt of panic. He might not be all right. And if the yeti was that worried…

He shook his head quickly. Jack was going to be fine. He had to believe that. He had to believe in Jack.

Bunny asked the yeti what he'd come in for, and the yeti hurriedly explained that Pitch Black was outside, feeding off some sort of fear from inside.

Bunny looked over at Jack, who was flinching now, crying silently in his sleep.

The rabbit cracked his knuckles and a hardened scowl crossed his face. Maybe he hadn't been there for Jack before…but he was sure as hell going to defend him now.

* * *

The moment Bunny got outside, he tore into Pitch. "Whatever you did to him, you lift it right now," snarled Bunny. "Because I'm tellin' you, mate, I'm not in a forgiving mood."

Pitch grinned, sniffing deeply. "Oh, his fear is delicious…"

"And stop feeding off him!" Bunny hollered, hopping over and shaking a fist.

"This," Pitch spread wide his hands, "is what I was born to do, Aster. Of course, I don't expect you to understand that. There's not much glory in painting eggs."

Bunny grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. "I don't care if you were born to do it or told by the Pope to. Get away from here, now."

Nightmares swirled around Pitch, neighing threateningly at Bunny.

"You know…" and suddenly Bunny was holding nothing but shadow, "…my Nightmares tend to get more active when they smell anger in the area. Of course, it's normally anger that kills fear, but…" he shrugged a little, appearing before Bunny once more. "…anger is just as good to them."

Bunny stepped threateningly toward him.

"So all I'm saying," concluded Pitch, disappearing into shadows once again, "is that you might want to learn to control that temper."

"You'll die before I rest," Bunny snarled, lunging for him.

Pitch's golden eyes sparkled as he hid in Bunny's own shadow. "Oh, I'm so scared. A little fluffy bunny rabbit is after me. A rabbit who paints eggs."

One of the Nightmares let out a derisive snort.

Bunny's paws clenched into fists. If he wanted Pitch to fix Jack for him, he'd have to be a little calmer than he was right now. He had to keep his head. He couldn't let Pitch's shadows trick him. "You'd better be scared, mate. Because if you don't fix Jack, you and I are gonna have some words."

Pitch let out an exhausted, long-suffering sigh. "Didn't you hear me telling the oaf, North?" he snapped. "_I can't get him out of that world_! He's going to have to do that on his own! But don't worry – he's absolutely _terrified_. It won't be long til his fear dies down."

"You…" Bunny began, but Pitch was gone. The shadows were no longer reaching for him and ghostly laughter sounded throughout the snowy landscape.

Bunny dropped his paws, letting his head fall into them. _He had to help Jack_._ He had to help Jack_._ He had to help Jack_…

Then he heard a shriek from one of the open windows. Rushing back inside, shivering slightly, he ran up the stairs and into the room.

Tooth was frozen in horror, having just been thrust outside of Jack's nightmare world along with the others.

"Oh, Bunny…" she was so breathless and horrified she couldn't speak for a minute.

"How's Jack?" Bunny asked, helping her and the others up.

"I think he needs more help than we can give," North responded somberly.

"So you're just GIVING UP?" Bunny demanded, disgusted.

"No," North said stoutly. "I'm going back in and trying a different tack."

'No!' Sandy said through his images. 'I don't think that's a good idea. Jack needs us here.'

North stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Tooth's eyes lit up. "You're absolutely right, North!"

"About what?" asked North.

"Jack needs more help than we can give him…alone." She said, purple eyes sparkling. "But together…" she paused, chewing her lip thoughtfully. Baby Tooth chirped something to her.

"Yes!" Tooth cheered. "Now…" she fluttered over to Jack. "Guys…I want to try something…follow my lead…think of when you were chosen…think of that now…"

They all shut their eyes and thought of what had happened when they were all chosen.

Then Tooth fluttered forward and placed a smooth white hand on Jack's wrist, covered by his blue sleeve. "Toothiana, Guardian of Memories."

She motioned to North.

"Nicholas St. North," said North, stepping up and doing the same. He lifted his chin slightly. "Guardian of Wonder."

Bunny noticed a strange golden glow hovering about North that slowly moved into Jack, making him shine bright for a few seconds before Sandy was being motioned forward.

'The Sandman,' he said with silent images. 'Guardian of Dreams.'

Then Bunny was being motioned forward. He placed a gigantic paw on Jack's wrist. "E. Aster Bunnymund, Guardian of Hope."

Jack glowed even brighter and slowly, the nightmare sand above his head turned gold, his heartbeat slowed to a calming pace.

His eyes fluttered open, full of wonder, peace, dreams, hope, memories, fun.

He was back.

Bunny could hardly believe his eyes when Jack sat up, running his fingers through his tousled white hair.

He looked around at them all and then, quite suddenly, without warning, he burst into tears. He sat there sobbing for a long time until finally, North moved to hug him, but Bunny beat him there.

He hugged the boy so tightly Jack couldn't breathe. He then proceeded to punch Jack on the shoulder repeatedly and call him an idiot (while also ruffling his hair, yelling about how worried they'd been and threatening to cause him bodily harm if he ever did that again.)

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Jack snapped, fighting the hug. "Jeez, Bunny, can you let a guy breathe?" he gave a small hiccup.

Bunny smiled a little and released him. "You _scared_ us, Frost."

"Well, I'm flattered I was so missed," he joked, moving his shoulder back and forth in an attempt to pop the dislocated joint back in place.

"You were," North whispered. Then he hugged Jack, and Tooth did, too, and Sandy did as well, all of them yelling (except Sandy and Bunny) about how much they'd missed him. Sandy never spoke and Bunny was too busy, once again, calling him an idiot.


	66. These Walls That Crumble

**A/N: Chapter 66: These Walls That Crumble **

**Um...yeah...no idea where this came from...**

* * *

Jack has built up his walls,

So high they can't be scaled.

Would he let me climb them?

Would he let me prevail?

* * *

Would he let me,

Climb up and in?

Or would he cast me out,

Saying I'm not ready to see what's within?

* * *

Will he ever heal from being shattered?

Will he ever heal from being shattered again?

Will he ever heal enough,

To let somebody in?

* * *

Will he show me who he is?

Flaws, ice and all?

Or will he curl in on himself,

And bring up those walls?

* * *

Will he learn to trust again?

Or will he forever lie?

Will I ever see,

More than fear in his blue eyes?

* * *

Will I ever be shown his lightning?

Will his thunder ever rumble?

Will he ever notice the irony,

Of these walls that crumble?

* * *

Cuz his walls are crumbling,

Yes, they're all crumbling now.

They fell in face of the Guardians,

These walls that crumble down.


	67. Broken and Bleeding

**A/N: Chapter 67: Broken and Bleeding**

**Yay *cue cheering* another angsty poem! I'll most likely post something else today, since I have NOTHING TO DO TODAY AND I'M SO BORED but for right now, I'll just post this, wait for people to read it and then post a one-shot.**

**Also, I've got two choices here: an arc involving feels between Jack and Bunny, kinda brotherly fluff or an arc involving Pitch and the other Guardians just having fun? Yes, I know, some people believe Pitch is evil and despicable, but he's JUST misunderstood. I don't know how well I capture him in this story, but up until now, Pitch has been kind of a background character, a recurring villain who only appears when needed, when I don't feel like creating an OC for a villain. Seriously. I have plenty of OCs as is: Genevieve Bloom, June Sunshine, Trick, Treat, Dr. Smith (the Guardian Doctor) Black Ice (you guys might see him soon...!) Victoria Fall, April Fool, Thunder, October Breeze, Cupid...that's basically it. Pitch is just a convenient villain. Wowza, sorry, I rambled!**

**Anyway, brotherly fluff one-shot for Chapter 70, or fun little arc involving Pitch and the Guardians? (more of that plot will be explained in chapter 70 if it makes the cut) **

* * *

There was once a winter boy,

Who reached out to you with both arms,

But you rejected him,

And caused him such great harm.

* * *

You hurt him, you hurt him,

Just look what you did!

He used to be okay,

Now he's just a frightened kid.

* * *

He's just a scared little boy,

So he'll run and hide like one.

Never thinking of what he might find,

If he stops in his run.

* * *

If he wasn't so afraid,

If only he didn't flee,

If only he could realize that,

This was how it was meant to be.

* * *

He is scared and lonely,

But he thought, 'just give it one more try'.

So he decided to give you a chance,

And now, just look at him cry.

* * *

You betrayed him once again,

I'm disgusted with you.

You're supposed to protect children,

This is not what you do.

* * *

This is not what you were made to do,

It wasn't where you were supposed to end up.

It makes me really sad when I think,

Of what the man in the moon never stopped you from.

* * *

Look at what you have done,

I wish you could see him once more,

If only to see how horribly you've hurt,

The boy he was before.

* * *

Look at what you did to this poor boy,

You kicked him when he's down,

You crushed him, broken and bleeding,

Into the ground.


	68. Only North Had Seen Him Flinch

**A/N: Chapter 68: Only North Had Seen Him Flinch**

**I'm sorry about taking down 'A Different Kind of Warmth'. I had the idea for it since I saw RotG and only wrote it a few days ago. Looking back over it, however, it sounds amazingly similar to another drabble I read on here once about how the Guardians brought Jack the warmth of a family. I didn't want to sound like I was stealing, because I honestly tried to make mine different, but I didn't feel right about leaving it up there.**

**Thank you guys for reviewing, following, favoriting, and being so patient with me! :3 For that, you guys get a new drabble I wrote just tonight. :) And, like I said in 'A Different Kind of Warmth', if you guys like How to Train Your Dragon, you might be interested in my "Uncle Gobber" story if you like Gobber/Hiccup family fluff.**

**As always, remember to vote on my poll! **

* * *

It wasn't surprising, but it still broke North's heart.

It was something small. Something he shouldn't have even noticed.

Something that hinted at a lost childhood, a scared kid, a forgotten winter boy.

Jack hid it behind smiles and snow and laughter and fun, but it lurked just beneath the surface of that shaky façade. Fear.

It was so easy to see, not because he let it show, but because he worked so hard not to.

He put all his efforts into pretending he was okay, not realizing he had never been so transparent. He didn't realize North could see right through him.

He didn't realize North had noticed it that day that he'd given him his wonder speech. He didn't know North noticed it plenty of other times, too. He didn't know North could see right through him, he didn't realize his façade was as transparent as glass.

Jack Frost was afraid and it showed.

Bunny had been angry about a prank Jack pulled on him at the last Guardian meeting. In response, Bunny had stood and started yelling at him, walking ever nearer.

Only North had noticed it. Only North had seen Jack's hands clench into fists, only North had seen his eyes go stormy gray. Only North had seen him flinch.

The moment North saw this quick sign of fear from their youngest Guardian, he yelled at Bunny to stop.

"It's alright, Jack," he'd promised, trying to signal to the others that Jack didn't deal well with yelling and also signal to Jack that Bunny wasn't going to hurt him. "Bunny's gonna survive, right, Bunny?" he looked pointedly at the rabbit, who sighed.

"Yeah, whatever," grumped the Pooka.

"Excellent," beamed North.

And the meeting continued like always.

But North always remembered that day and tucked it away inside his mind when Jack came to live with him, that the boy hated being yelled at.

It brought back bad memories, North assumed, so he quickly learned to be gentle with Jack and convey his anger and frustration in different ways.

After all, it was only North who'd seen him flinch.


	69. Even A Game Could Bring It Back

**A/N: Chapter 69: Even A Game Could Bring It Back**

**Okay. D: this. This is what happens when I'm playing Doodle Jump ninja mode late at night. This right here D: This is extraordinarily like my one-shot 'Broken Glass' so I decided to address both that one and the 'Farther Than They Wanted to Go' arc with this :) Anyway, this is my one-shot for today, tomorrow you guys will get a drabble and also possibly the start of an arc. If I feel like it.**

**P.S: Well, this is mildly humiliating. I just realized I NEVER STATED WHAT BROUGHT ON THE FLASHBACK. I know what it was, but I forgot to state it :P**

* * *

"Hey, guys! There's a _ninja mode_!"

"Oh, really? Let me see that!"

They acted like brothers, North thought, stifling a chuckle.

Jack and Bunny were playing Doodle Jump on a laptop in the North Pole and Jack had just discovered the ninja mode, apparently.

"Hey, calm down, cottontail, your turn will be here in a sec," sniffed Jack, and he pounded the keys happily, until they heard the telltale sound of him dying.

When that happened, Bunny happily reached for the touchpad, only to draw back. "Frostbite?" he asked tentatively. "You okay?"

Jack was staring in horror at the screen, eyes wide, hands frozen over the keypad.

"Frost!" Bunny said loudly and Jack jumped.

His blue eyes moved slowly from the screen to Bunny, flinching back slightly, looking afraid at the loudness of Bunny's voice, whatever he was saying.

"What's wrong?" Bunny demanded.

But North thought he knew. He'd seen Jack this way once before, when he'd accidentally broken the mirror in his room.*

He'd completely frozen (no pun intended) and just stood there in horror for a few minutes, trapped in a flashback. North had managed to snap him out of it and state what was wrong, but it had involved a dark time from his past with some other spirits.

"Jack," North said calmly, tilting his chin upward. He reached over and closed the laptop, handing it to Bunny to set aside. "What's wrong?"

Jack gave a nervous smile. "N-nothing! Why?"

"Jack," North repeated, in his 'I'm not very impressed with you' voice. "Really, what is it?"

He saw Jack throw a hesitant glance at Bunny, who instantly stood and walked out, getting the memo.

"It's-it's nothing," Jack protested weakly.

"You're thinking of something," North accused. "Something that happened in your past, no? Something on the game reminded you of it?" he pressed.

Jack shut his eyes, as if seeing it again for the second time. "N-no. I'm fine."

"Jack…"

"North, p-please…" North sensed tears and desperation in the child's voice and just as he was about to back off, Jack spoke again, quickly and quietly, eyes flicking away from North and back again, looking scared.

"Trick. Treat. The Halloween of '88, just something they did…the ninja trap in the game r-reminded me of it."

North's brows drew down. He was bordering on furious, now. It was more than enough that Trick and Treat had convinced them to pull a nasty prank on Jack and then end with tearing him down and beating him up**, but now they were invading him from past experiences as well?

"What did they do?" demanded North in his most dangerous voice.

Jack flinched a little. He spoke again. Quietly. So quietly. Afraid. He was afraid. "They…they set a tr-trap for me on the Halloween of '88…it was…it was…it was a stupid trap, I should've seen it…they in-invited me to their c-cave…" Jack took a deep, steadying breath and when he spoke again, his voice was still quiet, still tinged with fear and sadness, but clear and no longer sounding quite so tearful. "They invited me to their cave to hang out that night. I thought they liked me because…well…I don't really know…but I assumed I did something right, something that caught their attention…so I agreed…well…instead of leading me to the cave, they led me into this dark forest. When we were about midway through, they…it was a literal and figurative trap…they led me to it and shoved me into this…god, I don't even know what it was…it was big and silver and it had sharp teeth on the ends, it ripped my hoodie…"

There was silence for a few minutes.

"Then?" North prodded.

Jack took a shaky breath. "Then? It shocked me. It kept shocking me, too. I thought there was some mistake, and then I realized I was just stupid for trusting them, the way I always am…they left me there…they came back hours later…I was too weak to fight them off now. They had taken my staff, I dropped it when they shoved me…they dragged me back to their cave and then Treat disappeared. Trick taunted me for a few minutes. You could tell he was the one who'd really thought it up…well, I got dragged…into the…" he stopped.

"Yes?" North prompted quietly. He didn't want to harm Jack by making him tell of a traumatic experience when he wasn't ready, but he also knew keeping things bottled up inside was bad as well. "Yes?"

"W-well…he just…into the desert." Jack finished in a very small voice.

North's eyes burned with fire. "Oh." He stood up. "Hell." He reached for his sword. "No."

"North, wait…" Jack began.

"Listen to me, Jack," North put an arm around him and hugged him, stroking his white hair. "It's not you. You're not stupid, okay? Don't go around thinking that you are. Having been alone for that long, when somebody offers you company, it's natural to jump at the chance. And that doesn't make you weak, or foolish or stupid. Or naïve. Spirits shouldn't treat each other this way."

Jack pulled away from him, blue eyes swimming with tears. He swiped at them. "N-North, I—

"Shh…" North put a finger on his lips. "Don't, Jack."

"No, North, thank you."

"For what?"

"For listening to me. For…for caring enough…to want to hear the story," Jack managed.

North's blue eyes softened. "Oh, Jack…"

* * *

***Chapter 34, 'Broken Glass**'

****Chapter 38, 'Farther Than They Wanted to Go Part 2' **


	70. Family of Four Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 70: Family of Four Part 1**

**This implies fluff. It is not. I'm looking for a better title. It ain't comin'. I may change the name later. From now on it shall be christened the 'Family of Four' arc or just 'Four' for short. :) **

**In other news: I AM SO SORRY I DID NOT UPDATE YESTERDAY OR EARLIER TODAY IT HAS BEEN A SUPER BUSY DAY FOR ME AND YESTERDAY I WAS JUST LAZY I FEEL AWFUL AND I WILL UNDERSTAND IF EVERYONE STOPS READING THIS STORY. *sighs* sorry. I like following through on my commitments and when I don't, I feel really awful. I'll try not to do that in the future. Next time, I'll give you guys a warning if I can't post the next day ahead of time, or at least, I'll try. Okay? **

* * *

E. Aster Bunnymund didn't understand. And he hated when he didn't understand.

As he painted egg after egg, there was this nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something important. It was a few days after Easter, and so he struggled to remember if every kid had found eggs.

Then he realized he couldn't remember Easter at all. Had North convinced him to have a glass, perhaps? That seemed unlikely, although that was also the only explanation. Every time he thought about Easter, it seemed there was a wall there, like something definite and solid kept him from remembering it.

Bunny hated forgetting things, but this was just plain silly. What on earth had happened on Easter that had caused him to forget everything for good? That was when he saw one of his eggs running off and jumping into the River of Dye.

He vaguely remembered dyeing the eggs…hadn't there been a little girl named Sophie in his Warren? Impossible! How could she have gotten there?

It must have been North, Bunny concluded to himself. I must have been stressed afterwards and North must've offered me a stiff one. I'm just suffering through the recent aftereffects of a hangover. I'm fine. I'll remember everything once my headache is gone.

* * *

It seemed a reasonable enough explanation, now, didn't it, that Bunny had simply gotten drunk on Easter?

Of course, he rarely ever did, so he knew he was lying to himself to ease his mind, but what he didn't know was that the inability to remember was completely not his fault.

The day after Easter, Black Ice stood on Jack Frost's frozen lake, waiting for the stupid kid to show up.

When he finally did, five days late, Black Ice scowled at him.

"Black Ice." Jack greeted easily, but the spirit thought he saw the kid's hand tighten slightly on his staff. He smiled to himself. It would be so much easier if Jack was afraid. Hopefully, if the white-knuckled grip on his staff was any indication, he was, at the very least, tense.

"I'm surprised at you, Frost," drawled Black Ice carefully. He had to play his part well, otherwise the boy would never listen. How many times now had he been rejected? "I mean, a Guardian? You?"

Jack chuckled self-consciously. "It never takes long for news to reach your ears, does it?"

"Well, you being the most famous winter spirit in the world helps," Black Ice complimented generously. "But yes, I do hear news fast. It's a small world, Frost. And it's a dog-eat-dog one. Can you keep up?"

"I think I can," Jack replied stiffly, leaning on his staff. "Black Ice, if you don't mind, I'm actually kind of tired, I'd like to sleep now."

"Oh, no, Frost, actually, I wanted to talk to you first."

"About what?" sighed Jack, knowing the teenaged spirit wasn't leaving him until he'd agreed to talk to him. And he thought he knew what this was about…

You see, hundreds of years ago, when Jack had been a winter spirit for at least fifty years now, Black Ice sensed him. A winter spirit as powerful as Jack Frost could never hope to go unnoticed by Black Ice for long.

So Black Ice approached him, seeing his loneliness and fear. Pretending to be a wounded soul like the winter boy, longing for company, Black Ice offered him a place by his side.

Though Black Ice was a simple immortal, the lowly spirit of rain, he was so powerful he had also been blessed with similar powers to that of Jack's as well.

He could create black ice and nasty blizzards, thus the nickname 'Black Ice.'

Nobody quite knew what his real name was anymore, and nobody knew him, either. They said he was a thoroughly bad lot and not to go trusting him. Some spirits even said he gave off quite a dangerous vibe and if you trusted him, it would all go downhill from there.

Jack Frost didn't trust those spirits, but he didn't trust Black Ice, either. With the rain teen's clever, dark eyes and easy, careless walk, he just seemed like somebody who you couldn't turn your back on, because if you did, you'd find a knife sticking out of it.

No one else had ever been offered a place by Black Ice's side. It was thought that rain worked alone, that he had no interest in anyone, including lowly winter spirits.

Jack supposed he should have felt honored, but all he felt was distrust and a mild sense of disgust. What did this teenaged immortal want with him? He wondered.

The rain spirit even had a knife sticking out of one pocket – you could just barely see the dark hilt next to his black biker jacket and black skinny jeans. But the blade shown strong and true in the moonlight whenever he wielded it, and Jack Frost always wondered what sort of terrible power it carried.

Since then, Black Ice had only communicated with him through blizzards and rainstorms, including the memorable blizzard of '68, which the Easter Bunny had mistakenly blamed Jack for.

Jack brushed it off, pretending he'd done it, because at least the rabbit was talking to him.

And now Black Ice was back? To what did Jack owe this hell to? Was he out for revenge for Jack turning him down? Hadn't he haunted the winter spirit enough?

"I wanted to talk to you," Black Ice said, dark eyes glittering, slowly, slowly polishing that knife, "about being a Guardian. Is this really what you want, Jack?"

"Yes," Jack repeated firmly, well aware that showing hesitancy in Black Ice's presence was a death sentence.

"Anyway," Jack continued defiantly, "what's it to you, my status now? If I'm a Guardian, then that's none of your business!"

And here Black Ice paused. His fingers, polishing the dagger, stilled suddenly. "True," he admitted softly. "True."

There was silence. "But," he continued doggedly, holding up a finger, "it is plenty my business about a possible ally. So…" he went on, holding Jack's gaze, "…this is your second chance. Most people don't even get a first. Being a Guardian is just all hard work and deadlines, Jack. You really don't want that, you don't even know what you're getting yourself into."

"Like you've ever been a Guardian?" Jack accused. He knew it was hitting below the belt, but c'mon – this kid was irritating him.

Black Ice's fingers stilled again on his knife, and Jack thought he saw those black eyes glint red with fury, but then they were dark and fathomless again, as mysterious as the teen himself. "No, I haven't," he said in a strangely constricted voice. "But I know that this is not what you want."

"Like hell you do," Jack replied, knowing he was taking things far. "Like hell you even know me. The only thing you've ever done is offer me a place by you and send that blizzard of '68, which you stood by and let me get blamed for, by the way."

"You did that yourself," Black Ice replied without looking up from his knife. "You stood by and let it happen. I would have spoken up, but you seemed to strangely enjoy your lecture."

Jack could feel himself getting angry enough to hit Black Ice, shake him, and bring him out of his world where everything revolved around him. "That was because he was the first person who spoke to me in over a hundred years who didn't have some ulterior motive, maybe?" he quipped.

A smile threatened at the corners of Black Ice's pale lips. "I'm about to do you a favor," he explained. "If you know what's right for you, at the end of this, you'll be thanking me on bended knee."

"What do you mean?" Jack snarled.

"I'm only hoping that the Guardian of Memories won't remember," he said, a chuckle threatening in his voice at the pun. "Goodbye, Frost."

"What are you doing to her? What are you going to do to Tooth?" demanded Jack, running after him.

But Black Ice held his knife up, straight, perfectly positioned and he disappeared in a flash of icy white light.


	71. Family of Four Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 71: Family of Four Part 2**

**This chapter feels a bit like everyone just farts around :P but I moved onward with the story a bit and now you know what Black Ice did! Maybe I'll rename this arc to "Lost Memory" or something, IDK. **

**Also, don't forget to vote on my poll! It's up on my profile, please go vote! **

* * *

The trouble started when Jack Frost showed up.

It wasn't like Tooth was unaware of his existence – with teeth like his, all her mini fairies knew of him.

The moment he entered her palace, they converged on him, shrieking. He sent charming, toothy smiles their way, causing them to faint so he could crawl in through the window.

Tooth didn't even look up from instructing a mini fairy to go to a certain street. Instead, she merely turned to him and asked, "What do you want?" Her wings fluttered in the air behind her, graceful, hyperactive.

"Tooth, listen, you're gonna think I'm crazy, but—

"And how did you even get in?" she clucked. "Normally, the mini fairies do a better job at keeping unwanted visitors out."

Jack could tell by her large, innocent purple eyes and dazzling smile the words weren't intended to offend, but he drew back anyway, slightly hurt at the 'unwanted visitor' comment. She normally liked him pretty well and treated him like a little brother. Perhaps she was having an off day.

Tooth's question, also, was quickly answered. At least ten mini fairies swooned when Jack so much as looked at them.

"I came in to warn you that—

"How do you even know where I live?"

"When your palace got attacked by Pitch, we came, remember? I remembered the way there – mostly." he admitted, a dimple showing in his cheek as he gave her an impish grin. "The wind guided me, though."

"My palace?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Attacked by Pitch? Please! If Pitch Black attacked my palace, I'd kill him!"

Jack blinked at her. "But he did! I mean, you punched him for it later – like, days later, but still! That's not the point! I came here to warn you that you could be in danger…"

"Okay, I've got three things to say to you," Tooth interrupted. "One, my palace was never attacked by Pitch. I'd remember that. Two, if I'm in danger, why do you care? Three, I can defend myself and four, I appreciate your concern, Jack, but I can handle myself, so why'd you come? Oh, and five," she added, "You've never been to my Tooth Palace."

"No, I have," Jack insisted, and then he remembered Black Ice's words: _I only hope the Guardian of Memories won't remember._

Tooth had lost her memory.

* * *

Bunny was considering going to visit her, and eventually did decide to go to Tooth, but only because in early summer or late spring was when her work reached a definite decline and because he hadn't seen her in ages; the other Guardians simply thought he was antisocial, but he wasn't. In fact, he loved company when he could get it, but there had never been any need for the other Guardians to be in the Warren.

There had never been any need for him to be in the Tooth Palace either, but he decided to go. Something nagged at his mind as he raced over and it, by far wasn't his recent memory loss. Instead, it was thoughts like, 'well…maybe she's too busy.'

He eventually stopped at the entrance, the great mosaic floor wide open. He stepped on and looked around for Tooth, trying to dodge the chattering mini fairies, who kept insisting on prying his mouth open to see if he'd indulged on Easter or not. 'That's what we're both wondering,' he thought at them.

When he reached the center of the mini fairies, he saw Tooth, but she wasn't working. Instead, she had her arms crossed and was glaring, clearly arguing with the boy across from her. Bunny felt his brows draw down when he realized who it was. What was Jack Frost doing in the Tooth Palace?

"Let me get this straight," Jack was saying, "you don't remember anything from the battle of Easter? Nothing?"

"No," Tooth said impatiently, "and I'm starting to think you're making it all up!"

"It really did happen!" Jack insisted. "I got picked, and you guys summoned me to help battle Pitch and it was really fun, because we got to help you collect teeth…and then I…well…stuff happened…" here he stopped, looking awkward, and then he suddenly brightened again and plowed on determinedly. "And Bunny called us to help him with Easter, he took us to his little Warren, where there was a little girl named Sophie…"

"You're crazy," Tooth informed him. "I've got to get back to work, Jack."

Jack wilted and sighed, but to Bunny, though a bigger part of his mind told him this was pure lunacy, the smaller part of his mind argued that there was something familiar about Frost's story…

"What are you doin' here, Frost?" demanded Bunny aggressively, shaking off that thought.

Jack gave a cheeky grin. "Hey, Kangaroo. Uh…Tooth, here, has lost her memory, right up to the battle of Easter."

Bunny blinked. "What battle of Easter? What are you doing in her Tooth Palace?"

Jack saw them exchange a look.

"Does North remember anything?" Jack asked, quite desperately.

"He doesn't remember any Easter battle, if that's what you mean."

"Oh," Tooth said, turning back to Jack, "and what do you mean, you got picked?"

"Oh, I got picked to be a Guardian," Jack shrugged. "It was three days before Easter, if I remember correctly."

There was a silence, broken by a derisive laugh from Bunny. "Yeah, right, Frost! Why don't ya go spread some snow elsewhere?"

"Maybe the heat's getting to you, Jack," Tooth said condescendingly.

"No, I mean it, it did happen, I was picked and we fought the Boogeyman on Easter!"

"Listen," Bunny replied, getting annoyed, "if we were battling Pitch Black, Manny would certainly not pick you." His green eyes roved disapprovingly over the skinny frost boy, who immediately felt self-conscious under Bunny's piercing gaze.

He tugged at one of his sleeves. "Honest! North will remember, North will tell you everything – wait!" He clapped a hand to his forehead. "Your teeth! Tooth, do you have your baby teeth stored anywhere? Like at all?"

"No," Tooth shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't, Jack. But I can promise you it didn't happen. You're not a Guardian, okay?"

_Maybe it didn't happen._

_Maybe these past few days have been a lie. _

_I could've sworn they weren't, though. That battle on Easter…surely Bunny would remember turning into a little rabbit…_

_But maybe it didn't happen…maybe I just dreamed it. Maybe Sandy just decided to give me a really good dream._

Jack didn't even know if Sandy was powerful enough to do that, to give him a dream so sweet and so complex, where the Guardians were nice to him, where they took notice of him, where their offers of friendship were genuine (despite Bunny's reluctant protests).

Maybe it hadn't really happened at all…


	72. Family of Four Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 72: Family of Four Part 3**

**I'm going to work on part 4 now *evil grin* Wow. If I could stretch this for five more chapters, it could be longer than Jack's Nightmares! But I can't, so it won't be. **

**Anyway, I'm incredibly, incredibly sorry for not updating yesterday. I'm becoming a horrible person *sobs* In truth, I was doing some outside work and so I was really sore when I came inside and my computer wasn't yet started up. And I got the first season of Riders of Berk, so I spent the night watching Alvin and the Outcasts and others :D THEN I finally started up my computer and worked on "Uncle Gobber" because I was in a How to Train Your Dragon sort of mood. xD And while I was working on "Uncle Gobber" it occurred to me I should probably post the next chapter of 'Shattered' before it hit me that it was late and most people wouldn't even see it until the morning. Anyway, I'm sorry! Updates might be sporadic for the rest of the week!**

* * *

The doubt written all over Jack's face said it all for the other two Guardians. Bunny, seeing his chance, pounced. "You're definitely not a Guardian. Go back to where you came from."

_It was a dream._

What about North telling Jack only mere weeks ago that they were a family?

_They're a family of four._

What about Bunny, acting almost tolerant towards him?

_He never really accepted you._

What about—

_IT WAS A DREAM, YOU STUPID KID, GET OUT OF HERE! YOU'RE MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF! _

* * *

As Jack flew back to his frozen lake, he perched on a tree branch and simply sighed in disappointment.

He'd gotten good at not showing emotion these past few centuries, so he didn't cry, although he came close.

_It had all been a dream…_

But what a nice dream it had been. If only it were real…He brushed his hair out of his face and glared up at the moon, shying away from the breeze that ruffled his hair.

He didn't want to be comforted. He wanted to be angry.

"There, now," he said quietly, "you've taken everything. Can't you just…just…" he stopped and looked away from it, a pulsing silver halo emanating from it in the black night sky.

He looked away from it and turned his gaze on the leaves on his tree that rustled suddenly as the wind passed through again and again, protective and watchful over her little frost boy.

He pulled his hood up, shielding himself against the wind and the moon's depressing, evil light falling on his pond. He shrank back into the tree, closed his eyes and fell deeply asleep, after awhile.

Although Jack had expected to feel awful the next morning, he hadn't expected the waves of misery to crash down on him again and again, barely giving him time for breath before the next one hit.

He had slept dreamlessly that night; bless the little Sandman for not torturing him with something else that never could be.

He ran through the events of yesterday in his head, Bunny's derisive, mocking laugh, Tooth's condescending purple eyes, the chattering mini fairies all swooning over him.

He remembered it all so clearly and then he thought of his past life, his one as a human. Was that a lie, too? Had he really been Jackson Overland Frost? He hesitated to hope so, but at least then he'd have answers, if not companionship.

Then he busied himself with scooping his staff up from the branch of the tree and lowering himself slowly to the ground, before he heard a voice.

"I did you a favor."

Jack turned and spotted Black Ice standing a few feet away, carelessly twirling that little dagger, his black eyes fixed on Jack, a small, satisfied smile on his face.

Jack blinked a little and swiped his hair out of his eyes. "What?"

Black Ice snorted. "Are you deaf? I said I did you a favor! And I did, too! And as always, the position to join me remains open." His dark eyes flickered over to Jack's staff, which a long stream of ice was forming on. "They would never have accepted you, Jack."

"The Guardians – it was real?" whispered Jack, blue eyes widening. Then he laughed a little. "It wasn't a dream?" Then the reality of the situation dawned on him. "Oh…" They'd lost their memories. Never in a million years would they believe him if he tried telling them he'd once been a Guardian.

"Oh, you make me sick," scoffed Black Ice. "So overjoyed that the Guardians like you. Or make that lik_ed_."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Jack told him stubbornly.

Silence.

Black Ice put his dagger back and instead pulled out a long sword. "Let's make a bet, you and I," he said pleasantly, although his eyes glinted with darkness and evil.

"What sort of bet?" Jack swallowed.

"We fight. And if I win," Black Ice said, "you join me. If you win, I give the Guardians their memories back, and we say no more about it."

Jack took a breath. "Wh-what sort of bet are we talking here? How do we know who's won?"

"Whoever comes out on top," he continued, "will be the winner."

"You were prepared for this, weren't you, Black Ice?" Jack accused.

There was silence from the rain spirit's end as he unsheathed his sword and his black eyes reflected in the blade's metal.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"You planned this all, didn't you?" Jack demanded. "You had this right from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Black Ice replied easily, holding his sword up to Jack's chest. "Well? You gonna fight?"

Jack nodded slowly. "When I win," he said, "you have to promise to give back the Guardians' memories."

Black Ice nodded seriously and Jack could tell he intended to keep that promise.

Then Jack readied his staff. Black Ice might have motivation, but he had twice that.


	73. Fixing Jack

**A/N: Chapter 73: Fixing Jack**

**This is actually the working title for a story I'm thinking of writing :D But I'm not sure if I ever am. It's an AU setting of RotG and I haven't even put it on my poll yet :D Also, the poll is going to be closed very soon and so far, 'Innocent' for HTTYD is in the lead. If any of you RotG fans wish to see 'The Dark Side of Cold' or 'The Guardian Files' more, don't be shy. Go vote!**

* * *

Jack has been left alone,

Abandoned and scared.

He was lost to the winds and snow,

And nobody was ever there.

* * *

There was always something keeping him,

From having a family, warmth and love.

Because the spirits who could see him,

Weren't the type he might have dreamed of.

* * *

They were cruel and spiteful,

Taking out their frustrations on him,

He refused to defend himself,

Who cared for the lonesome kid?

* * *

The Guardians showed up,

Three hundred years too late.

Where were they a century or two ago?

When this child's need was great.

* * *

He's learned to survive alone now,

And alone he wants to be.

He shuts himself away from the world,

Away from you and me.

* * *

The darkness threatens him,

Yet it caresses him gently,

The shadows let him know they'll understand,

And their master is kind and friendly.

* * *

Jack rejects his friendship,

Each and every time,

He still wishes for aloneness,

In his perfect world of ice.

* * *

Eventually, he will tire of the solitude,

And seek out the Guardians again.

And when that day comes,

They'll do the right thing instead.

* * *

Instead of ignoring him,

Or leaving him to cry alone every day,

These Guardians are going to fix Jack,

In their own special way.

* * *

His solitude was something,

He inflicted on himself,

But now he's finding companionship,

By reaching out to someone else.

* * *

Because now he's not so afraid,

That they might turn and strike him.

He's still scared, yes,

But not to the point of wanting to be alone again.

* * *

And so the Guardians are going to fix him,

And do everything they can,

To make sure his smiles and laughter,

Aren't just a sham.

* * *

And though it may take an eternity,

That's how far they're willing to go,

To bring back the youngest Guardian,

To bring back his hope.


	74. Family of Four Part 4

**A/N: Chapter 74: Family of Four Part 4**

**God, I hate those fight scenes :/ They are the bane of my existence! And now my computer is running its daily scan to make sure I'm "protected". As you read in Chapter 72, I got Riders of Berk season one on DVD last Sunday. I've been having an incredibly busy week, and I'm so happy that you guys have been so patient and understanding. I'm realizing that, despite my awesome readers, I'm stopped giving this story the effort the readers deserve. I'd like to apologize for that here and I hope you can forgive me. I promise I will start making this story better (starting with this arc) and soon.**

**Secondly, holy freaking cows, 227 reviews? What happened? Special thanks to everyone who reviewed...uh, I forget who did...I do believe I remember a few names, but I'd feel bad mentioning like, one or two and not all and frankly, I'm too lazy to check. Thanks to everyone, even those nameless Guests who reviewed :) It really means a lot to me these days. Even those people who didn't review, just followed, favorited and read and lurked, thank you all too. **

**One more thing: there's gonna be a part five and possibly a part six.**

**Also, now it's time to celebrate in a slightly different way that I don't think any other authors do: by telling one joke per chapter, usually centering on a Guardian. Firstly, how does Jack Frost get to work? By icicle! **

* * *

As Black Ice and Jack prepared to fight, Jack sent a quick, silent pleading to the moon. He didn't really expect an answer; after three hundred years of nothing but silence, why should this be any different?

But he asked anyway, because he was scared to death. If he lost, then he lost everything, and the Guardians would never regain their memories.

If he won, Black Ice would finally back off and the Guardians would have their memories back.

Jack had to admit the former was more likely.

But he held tightly to his staff, because it wasn't really the outcome that mattered. This wasn't about him and Black Ice, at least not for him. This was the Guardians getting their memories back.

It would affect Jack a great deal if they didn't, but more than that, they deserved to remember everything.

Black Ice didn't wait. He sent his sword slashing through the air, creating a small blizzard right there.

The snow wasn't ordinary snow; the flakes had black tints and it seemed unusually weighty, weighing Jack down.

Under the crushing, heavy snowflakes, Jack fell to his hands and knees. "You're going to kill somebody with this storm!" he warned Black Ice.

"Oh, like you don't do that every day?" retorted the rain spirit, readying his sword above Jack's head.

Jack slowly pushed himself to his feet again, using his staff to quickly silence the storm. The sound of the roaring wind deadened and the flakes fell less heavily; they became white and sparkling again, signifying they were the real Jack Frost's flakes.

"You forget I control winter, too!" Jack snarled at him. The mild snowfall seemed to be enhancing his power; he sent blast after blast of ice at Black Ice, who, in turn, sent rain clouds after him.

But if the rain was hitting him, he wouldn't know it. Such was his determination that, the moment the drops hit his face, they were frozen solid.

The rain mingled with the snow and for one small moment, a slight smirk crossed both their faces as they thought how baffled weather watchers would be.

Jack's smile quickly faded when he remembered what had brought him here. He sincerely doubted he had the power to kill Black Ice, but ice beat water every time.

Black Ice looked to the sky. "Thunder! Help me!"

Lightning crackled in the black sky above and a single, jagged flash fell, literally fell from the sky which poured rain and snow, sleet and hail.

Black Ice caught the flash one-handed, smiling menacingly at Jack as he did so. "So…now what were you saying about how you can control winter?"

Jack swallowed. The score was far from even now; with another spirit on his side, the spirit of lightning, Black Ice was pretty much unstoppable. Not that he really needed another's help; for a rain spirit, he was the most powerful one there ever was.

In fact, Jack was rather surprised that the immortal standing in front of him now hadn't already gone down in history.

Speaking of going down in history, this battle was something that would become stuff of legend.

The wind screamed around them, ruffling Jack's hair, all but yelling at him. _He has a lightning bolt, get away now, you idiot!_

'I can't!' Jack thought back to the wind, taking a second to catch his breath. 'If I leave now, it'll be a forfeit. I'll belong to Black Ice and the Guardians will never remember anything!'

The wind gave a low, sad sigh, as if it knew the outcome of this terrible battle and it didn't like it one bit.

This worried Jack for about a second or two before he felt a strange prickling on the back of his neck.

He threw himself forward and shot a random, powerful blast of ice at anything – _anything!_ – praying it would hit something.

It did. It froze Black Ice's lightning bolt, which he had been about to use on Jack. It froze it clear.

The flash of jagged white light sparkled beneath the frozen encasement.

Jack gently tugged it from Black Ice's hand. As he did, a strange electric current ran up his arm and he shivered. Lucky it was frozen, or that much power and electricity could have killed him had he been holding it bare-handed.

"Now we're even again," Jack said, carelessly casting the bolt aside.

Black Ice scowled thunderously. (No pun intended.) "Alright, Frost," he snarled. "I'd rather take you with my bare hands anyway."

"Chill, Black Ice," Jack said angrily, shooting another ice blast at him. He smiled unexpectedly. "Get it? Chill?"

Black Ice frowned. "You need a joke book, Frost. I can't have an ally that tells lame jokes."

"That wasn't a joke," Jack replied, dodging a few more rain clouds and a slash of Black Ice's sword. "That was – oof – a pun. I'll admit, it wasn't my best, but…" he shrugged. "You know."

He used the crook of his staff to drag the sword hilt out of Black Ice's grip. When it was within his own, it vibrated and crackled with a strange power; the blade was cloudy and shadowy, making Jack feel uncomfortable.

The black blade seemed to tell of dark and terrible things, so Jack quickly chucked it away and turned to Black Ice with his staff. "You're done, Black Ice!"

Black Ice didn't scowl, nor did he snarl. Instead, he simply stood there, a smile adorning his pale face. He slowly let his eyes slip closed. "Alright," he whispered upon opening them. "They have their memories back."

"All of them?"

"Yes, Jack. All of them." The rain teen replied.

"You haven't tampered with them?"

"No." Black Ice told him in a bored voice. "Though if I had, I would lie about that, too. Nor have I left gaping holes in their memories, either. They remember everything."

"Alright." Jack nodded.

"Good of you to cover all the bases," Black Ice replied. "Except one." Then he flew away, into the sky.

That "except one" nonsense rattled Jack for a second until he shrugged it off. The spirit was trying to unsettle him. He'd lost, but he didn't want Jack angry or upset; he wanted the winter spirit afraid, an emotion Jack wasn't going to give him.

As he turned to go himself, the back of his neck did that strange prickling thing again. He started to turn, but before he could, a blinding pain shot up his spine. He fell down into a snow bank, where he distinctly felt raindrops hit his face for seconds before the taunting voice came, as if from a great distance. "Yes. Almost all the bases," Black Ice chuckled mockingly. "All except that I'm not allowed to attack you when your back is turned."


	75. Family of Four Part 5

**A/N: Chapter 75: Family of Four Part 5**

**Now, I KNOW that it's been awhile but if you go back and check Chapter 72, you'll see I stated clearly that updates might be sporadic for the week. I got awful writer's block and I was feeling it even in Chapter 72, which is why I warned you guys about the haphazard nature of updates. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you guys sooner, because you guys have been amazing, but I'm seriously trying to balance everything... :P**

**I'm seriously really sorry I didn't post this sooner, but I really wanted to make it good and every time I tried it came out angsty. **

* * *

The memories hit Bunny like a hammer.

He simply stood there for a second, gawping at Tooth, whose palace he had been about to leave.

"Jack…" Tooth said in a shaky voice. "…was…telling the truth…"

Bunny nodded for a second. There was silence between the two as Tooth began fluttering like crazy.

"Well, we have to let him know we remembered, otherwise he's never gonna—

"Sheila," Bunny replied soothingly. "Calm down. I'm sure the kid's fine. I'll tell him, soon. He'll probably be waiting for us in the next Guardian meeting, as a matter of fact." And with that, he disappeared down the hole, taking his brisk cheer with him.

* * *

Jack was in such pain he could barely move.

He was barely conscious and he felt ice growing over the wound already, body hunkering down, preparing to fix it…

His mouth was full of snow and all he could really feel was a throbbing in the small of his back.

The storm still raged all around him, lightning crackling threateningly.

Black Ice's voice reigned still, like a hundred stabbing knives. "Goodbye, Frost." And with that, he departed silently, disappearing in a flash of icy white light.

Jack breathed a little sigh of relief. His thoughts were quite hazy, but one kept sticking with him: _at least he's gone. _

_At least the Guardians have their memories back. At least Bunny and Tooth know I was telling the truth…_

Blackness threatened his vision and he didn't fight it. Why should he? It was welcoming, dark, cold. Just like he liked it. Just like his life had been for ages.

He swallowed, lifting his head weakly to spit out a bit of snow. As he did, it freed both ears and he heard a thick Australian accent calling his name.

"Frost! Frostbite! Frostbite?"

Jack wanted to say 'here, Kangaroo' but it came out more of a gurgle.

Bunny spotted him and hopped over to him, looking at a loss for what to do. And he was. Jack, of course, wouldn't know what it looked like, his blue hoodie stained with blood, wettest and darkest at the small of his back and a thin sheet of ice already growing over it, ready to quite literally put a Band-Aid on an open wound.

Bunny swept the icy wall aside with one paw, for it was very brittle and hadn't yet gotten a firm hold on the injury. The ice sent chills up his furry arm, but he gritted his teeth and set his jaw. Jack needed him. His brother needed him.

Jack's eyelids were threatening to flutter closed.

"Oh, c'mon, Frost, stay with me!" called Bunny, sure he wasn't going to like what would happen if Jack slept.

Jack's eyes snapped open again and he blinked a few times. "I want to sleep."

"I know. But you can't sleep, not yet." Bunny was mentally panicking; there was no way to treat Jack's injuries here, none of the surrounding villagers could see him and even if they could, they'd be less than likely to offer help to a six-foot rabbit with a bloody winter spirit in his arms, and his tunnels were most likely going to worsen Jack's condition.

Just as Bunny was coming to the conclusion that he'd have to do just that, he picked Jack up in his arms, holding him in such a way that his fur wasn't touching Jack's wound.

Blood was still soaking his hoodie, turning its soft blue fabric scarlet, but Bunny hardly noticed. He needed to get Jack out of here.

Then, as he shifted Jack awkwardly, his paw brushed the boy's hoodie pocket and he felt something in there.

Supporting the boy with one hand and rummaging in the pocket with the other, Bunny drew the object out, holding his breath, praying it was what he thought it was – yes!

One of North's snow globes!

Bunny nearly laughed with relief. Although he didn't like the snow globes much (about as much as he liked the sleigh) he was perfectly happy doing this if it meant getting Jack to the Pole quicker.

He figured Jack must have nicked the globe or North could have given it to him; Bunny was torn as to which option seemed more likely.

He stepped into the swirling vortex with Jack in his arms and they were pulled into the North Pole, where yetis and elves bustled, yetis grumbling in perfect gibberish at Bunny to watch where he was going.

Then they seemed to spot the winter spirit in his arms and time seemed to slow.

Just then, thumping boots sounded up the small flight of stairs and North stood before him, wiping a sweating brow. "Bunny!" he panted. "What happened on Easter – it was a— Then he stopped, spotting Jack in the rabbit's arms. "I see you've remembered also," he said gravely. "I'll take the boy from here." He held out his arms for him.


	76. Family of Four Part 6

**A/N: Chapter 76: Family of Four Part 6**

**To quote Kuzco from 'Emperor's New Groove' BOOM, BABY! This arc is finished and over with and thank the great Lord in heaven for THAT. xD This arc gave me the most trouble I've ever had with an arc before.**

* * *

"We'll go to the infirmary," he panted to Bunny. "The yetis will fix him up and—oh, Manny," he breathed. "Is that blood?" He pulled scarlet-stained fingers away from the frost boy's back as he held him, running full sprint to the infirmary.

"I don't know what happened to him," Bunny explained when they'd made it into the infirmary and were laying Jack upon the bed. "I went to his lake to check on him and there it was."

There was silence as North and Bunny worked, North stripping off the boy's blood-stained hoodie and Bunny handing him medical supplies.

North slowly set about cleaning the wound, but within two seconds it became clear: Jack needed stitches.

A few yetis waited outside, at a loss for what to do, just like Bunny. The yetis had been hired to help North with any task and, being unable to help him with this, they felt quite useless.

Bunny, to give the poor things something to do, picked up Jack's hoodie from the floor. "Will you wash this for him?"

One of them grabbed the hoodie from him and took it downstairs to the washing room.

Bunny stood close by as North slowly began stitching.

"This looks good," North said, feigning cheer, but his eyes betrayed him, clouded with worry and sadness. "I mean, the bleeding has stopped, his breathing seems to be easier…"

It sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself than Bunny. Jack wasn't even conscious anymore, eyes peacefully closed.

North finished up the stitching, but hovered by Jack's bedside and Bunny did also, though they both knew there was nothing more for them to do but wait for Jack to wake up.

As they waited, they talked for a few minutes; stiff, forced conversation that eventually gave way to silence, at least until Jack opened his eyes.

When he did, he flinched back from North and Bunny before realizing who they were; when he did, he merely gave them a tired smile. "You remembered."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes." North replied seriously, wiping sweaty white strands off the boy's pale forehead. "Jack, what happened?"

Jack sighed and sat upright in the bed, before he seemed to realize he had nothing on over his torso. Uncomfortable, he looked around, not meeting their eyes. "Where's my hoodie?"

"It's getting washed," Bunny responded. "The yetis will be back with it in a few."

There was silence, awkward and uncomfortable for Jack, sad and heavy for the two older Guardians.

Finally, Bunny broke it. "What did happen, Frostbite?"

Jack took a deep breath. "Black Ice. He happened." He wrinkled his nose, mouth pulling into a grimace as if just saying the name left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Black Ice?" demanded Bunny.

Jack slowly began telling the story, of how Black Ice was the spirit of rain, blessed with winter powers as well and how he'd slowly taken notice of Jack, set his greedy, crazed black eyes on the winter boy.

He told of how he himself had turned Black Ice down many times and how Black Ice had caused them to lose their memories.

He was just finishing as he mentioned the other spirits' low opinions of the spirit. "He's a bit of a loner, doesn't talk to other people much."

There was a long silence.

"He sounds…deranged," North said after a long silence.

"No, what he did really wasn't that far out of the common thing for spirits," Jack replied with an eye roll. "All their stupid feuds, they're constantly spilling blood…" he fell back upon the pillows as a yeti bustled in, handing him his hoodie.

Jack quickly tugged it on, saying, "Thanks, Phil. First time it's been washed in about two hundred years." He chuckled lightly, tugging it gently over the stitches, so as not to tear them open again. "But, yeah, he is a little deranged," he concluded conversationally, turning to North and Bunny as the yeti left. "He went a bit loopy in the eighteenth century, hasn't ever been the same since. I don't think anyone else really even knows about that part."

There was a long silence.

Bunny looked ready to kill something, but North felt a great heaviness in his chest as he watched Jack's neutral expression falter for a brief second and he suddenly grasped how hard it must be to talk about something like that, in such a matter-of-fact tone, busily pretending to be okay.

Jack swallowed, blue eyes flicking nervously downward to his hands, waiting for them to speak. While he waited, his fingers found the pale blue 'Self-Mutilation Awareness' bracelet that North had given him just a few short months ago. He snapped it lightly against his wrist, out of habit now more than anything, as he waited for one of them to break the silence.

Finally, North did, when he trusted himself enough to speak. "Jack…I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Jack shrugged, "honestly, I don't really care. I cared way more two hundred fifty-five years ago, when it actually happened."

There was another silence as Bunny began picturing this little 'Black Ice' twit in his mind, wondering how strongly North would object to Bunny having a brief "talk" with this teenage rain spirit…


	77. Brothers

**A/N: Chapter 77: Brothers**

**A completely unplanned companion piece to 'Family of Four'. I decided to write a little drabble a few days after xD It's not even a page, that's how quickly it took to get my point across xD **

* * *

"You did what?" Jack demanded, sitting upright in his chair, clutching his staff close to him.

"And I'd do it again in a second," Bunny told him. It was a few minutes before their monthly Guardian meeting and a few days after all the drama with Jack and Black Ice. "If that twit doesn't leave you alone…"

"Isn't that like illegal?" Jack grumbled, but Bunny could see an almost pleased smile threatening on his face while a blue blush crept up his cheeks. He always got embarrassed when things like this happened. "I mean, just randomly beating up on another spirit?"

"Well, seeing as half the police in this world can't see me…"

"You seriously shouldn't have done that, Bunny," Jack said as Tooth and Sandy both came in and North entered, offering his fellow Guardians eggnog and cookies.

"What shouldn't Bunny have done?" Tooth asked, looking up from talking to one of her mini fairies.

"There's a lot Bunny shouldn't have done," Jack told her.

"It's okay, Jack," Bunny told him. "All I can say is, Black Ice is gonna be leaving you alone for a long, long time. He's finally let go of that stupid you joining him notion of his." His nose wrinkled in disgust as his mouth pulled up into a grimace.

The blush began forming in Jack's cheeks again, bluer and darker.

It was the first time Bunny had ever called him 'Jack' to his face. Normally he called him 'Snowflake' or 'Frostbite' or 'ankle-biter'.

North just sighed and shook his head, while Tooth shrugged off what Bunny had said. But Sandy gave Jack an almost knowing look, like he knew things about him and Jack didn't know he knew, which was most likely the case.

Bunny looked at the younger boy, slouched over in his chair, staring fixedly at North as the blush slowly faded from his cheeks, and he may never have known that deep down, Jack really appreciated what the rabbit had done for him.

But that was the thing with brothers, thought Bunny, looking at his own, rather irritating younger one. They teased each other and threatened each other, got angry with each other and avoided each other. They christened each other with nicknames, welcomed and sought out each other. They gave each other advice, mocked each other, accused and yelled at each other, but were still, always, without fail, there for one another.


	78. Alone Again

**A/N: Chapter 78: Alone Again**

**This is in Jack's POV and it's his poem to North, I guess? xP though it could fit all the Guardians. xP IDK, some of my more feelsy poems...**

**Also, based just on the arcs alone, WHY HAVEN'T THE GUARDIANS PUT JACK ON A LEASH YET WHENEVER ANYTHING STRANGE, MYSTERIOUS OR JUST PLAIN WEIRD HAPPENS OR WHEN THEY MEET A NEW SPIRIT? He always gets hurt! xP **

**Also, HOLY COW, 247 reviews, 95 favorites and 120 follows :) wow!**

* * *

I once had a cover of darkness,

That I thought would never fail.

I lived that way for quite a while,

In my perfect, icy veil.

* * *

I thought nothing would happen,

That I'd never have to take it off.

Because every time I did,

It caused others to laugh and scoff.

* * *

And now I'm standing in front of you,

Nothing but naked skin and bone,

Aren't you going to leave me now?

Aren't you going to leave me alone?

* * *

I've been through this song and dance before,

I've read this book, I know the ending,

So why do you insist,

That we must keep pretending?

* * *

I shoved myself farther down,

Believing no one could ever care about me.

But in truth, they just never gave me a chance,

They never spent long enough around me.

* * *

And now you stand there,

Patiently waiting for me to take off my mask,

You stand there with your arms folded,

You've always known I was putting on an act.

* * *

You've always known how I'm not really this happy,

You've always known I'm expecting this charade to end.

But you've also always known,

That someday I'll be alone again.


	79. The Shattering

**A/N: Chapter 79: The Shattering**

**Sooo for chapter 80, I'm thinking of starting a new arc. Only...there's a SLIGHT problem with that. It's only gonna be about four chapters long and it's gonna be all about Black Ice. It's gonna be his story. Tell me, would any of you read that and enjoy it? Can you respect him enough as a good antagonist to read something centered on him? I promise, while he has no excuse, he has reason for being the way he is. *whispers* he is a little insane. Now he's just like, 'am not!' xD But yeah, would you guys read that? Cuz' it's either that or another arc that's focused on Jack and Bunny and so angsty...gosh, guys, it's horrible xD **

* * *

It was a dark day for poor Jack,

When everybody around him told him he didn't matter.

So began the cracks in the ice,

So began the shatter.

* * *

It went on for many days,

Its work completed, it left him alone,

Like everything else, it left him,

Searching for home.

* * *

It left him in eternal solitude,

It left him in forever night.

It left him in the darkest place,

It left him with no hope or light.

* * *

It left him in his hopeless misery,

Broken and alone.

It left him nothing,

But scarred skin and bone.

* * *

So I guess it's easy to imagine,

And even easier to say,

That poor Jack Frost,

Grew tired of living this way.

* * *

I guess he grew tired of being alone,

I guess he grew tired of never mattering.

So this is how the story ends,

This is the story of the shattering.


	80. We Were Bored Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 80: We Were Bored Part 1**

**Wow. Eighty chapters. 259 reviews. 96 favorites. 121 follows. 75092 views. :) I'm a lucky writer, aren't I? I can't believe I've come this far! When I first started 'Shattered' it was purely because, when I first saw RotG, fanfiction ideas exploded in my head. **

**I originally wanted to write a modern AU of RotG, but that didn't work out quite so great. (If you're interested in seeing said modern AU, it's called 'Our Duty is To Protect'.) I just never thought I'd get this far. I honestly thought no one would like this fanfiction much, and that's not me saying I'm a terrible writer, because I know I'm a good one. Obviously, I've got a lot to learn, but I write pretty good poetry and can write some mean angst when I want xD **

**And this is ALSO not me saying that no one reads my stories, because I've got proof that people do, and this story is it. I just never thought people liked my Rise of the Guardians stories this much, to read, review, follow and favorite and that so many people would do it. I'm in shock here. I would like to thank everybody who reviewed, followed and favorited. IIIIIIIIIIIII am too lazy to check usernames. YOU GUYS KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Take something from Trick and Treat's orange candy bowl: Almond Hershey Kisses, sugar-free gum, Milky Ways, Twix, ButterFinger, Snickers, M&Ms, Reese's Cups, 100 Grands, PayDays, Hershey's Bars, Kit Kats, 3 Musketeers, lollipops, candy corn, licorice skulls and gummy bats. **

**Anyway, this is an arc that will most likely never end and it's gonna be about how Jack and Bunny get bored and do something stupid and/or funny that most likely either gets them in trouble or makes another Guardian want to do it xD**

* * *

"I'm bored," Jack sighed, not even noticing the elves looking up at him in sheer terror when they heard him utter those two, fateful words.

The last time Jack had been "bored" he'd ended up splashing them with frozen water balloons for a day.

Jack flipped upside down as Bunny popped up from the ground using his rabbit hole.

"What are you doin', Frostbite?" chuckled Bunny, failing to keep a straight face at Jack hanging upside down in midair.

Jack shrugged, turning the right way up. "Seeing the sights."

"Upside down?" teased Bunny.

Jack grinned sheepishly, flopping down onto the red and gold sofa. "I'm creative."

"Or annoying," Bunny replied in his 'I'm so mature' voice. He sat down next to the winter spirit, shuddering a little from the blast of cold air. "What were you doin', anyway? I know it's your off season."

Jack shrugged. "Nothing," he sighed. "I'm being bored, as usual."

Bunny chuckled a little. "Imagine that. Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun, is _bored?"_

Jack pouted. "I really am."

"Why don't you help me paint some eggs?" Bunny asked.

"I thought Easter was over," Jack said, sitting upright on the couch and looking at Bunny. "Besides, I'd freeze everything I touched in there."

"So?" Bunny demanded.

Jack's head whipped around so fast, he probably cricked his neck. Rubbing it a bit, he said, "Really?"

His face was aglow with excitement; Bunny had never actually invited him to the Warren before.

Oh, there were those days when he did subtle things, like suggesting they take a difficult conversation into the Warren, but never had Bunny actually allowed him to go there when he just wanted something to do or wanted a friend.

"Sure," Bunny shrugged. "C'mon."

"What'd you come to the Pole for, anyway?" Jack demanded.

Bunny sighed, wondering if he should tell Jack the truth. He stole half a glance at the excited boy and decided no, he shouldn't. "Seeing how things are. Making sure you're leaving the elves and yetis alone."

"You know me," Jack said. "Would I do that?" he batted his eyelashes at Bunny, a hand over his heart. "I'm an absolute angel."

"Only in North's eyes," muttered Bunny. In truth, he really had only gone to check up on the boy. After Black Ice had attacked him a couple weeks back, Bunny had been incredibly careful over the boy. He had a bit of a protective, brotherly instinct with the winter spirit, a fact he hoped never to reveal. Some things just needed to stay private. "Besides, your halo's falling."

"Yeah, I know," Jack smiled.

Bunny tapped the ground with his foot and down they went, into the Warren, Jack smiling in delight the whole way there.

When they landed on the grassy ground, Jack stood, flying up above and circling Bunny's head, asking him what they were supposed to do.

"Jeez, do ya ever slow down, mate?" Bunny asked, looking up at him.

"It's one of the perks of being me," Jack replied easily, stopping his constant circling for a second to land, before shooting right back up again. "Besides, you sounded like you had an ulterior motive. Are you going to drag me into egg painting?"

Bunny smiled. "Nah."

There was a few seconds of silence between the brothers as Bunny considered something, chewing his lip… "Jack?"

"Mm?" Jack asked, examining a pretty purple flower, gently touching a petal. He shrank back a little when he realized he'd created a fine coating of frost, but Bunny didn't seem to care.

"Wanna play a game?"

Jack's eyes widened. _The Easter Kang—errrr, Bunny, wants to play a game…with me? _"Yeah!" he chirped enthusiastically. "What do you want to play?"

Bunny began rattling off a list of possible games that he thought might entertain the winter spirit. "And, of course, there are the games like hide n' seek, but you might've outgrown those…"

"Hide n' seek?" Jack said, looking up at him. "Can we play that one?"

Bunny nearly chuckled. It was almost impossible to believe that the spirit standing before him right now was three hundred years old. He knew Jack would hate him for having this thought, but he looked so little, like a childish younger brother.

And, to be honest, to Bunny, he kind of was.

"Sure," Bunny replied. Sometimes, he did forget Jack was a three hundred year old…kid. Not a spirit. Not a hoity-toity, 'I think I'm all that and a bag of chips' type person. He was just a kid, and he'd just been this way for three centuries.

The game started with Jack being the seeker while Bunny hid.

It took quite a while for Jack to find Bunny, as the Warren was the rabbit's home. When he at last cornered him near the Lake of Dye, Bunny was grinning widely and getting ready to seek this time.

Halfway through their little game, while Bunny was seeking and Jack was hiding, North stepped neatly into Bunny's Warren, calling for the rabbit.

Bunny appeared suddenly, hoping to make North disappear as quickly as possible. He didn't really want the older man to know he'd been playing hide and seek. "Yeah?"

"One of the yetis told me you'd brought Jack down here," North said. "I just wanted to make sure he's alright and make sure the yeti got his facts straight, so Jack's not wandering around somewhere."

Bunny bit back a laugh at the man's mother-hen tactics. "Yeah. He's fine, the ankle-biter."

To Bunny's disquiet, North didn't leave immediately. "Where is he, anyway? Shouldn't he be irritating you?" North looked amused.

"Um…" Bunny coughed. "Well, he's around here somewhere…"

"Do you not know?" North demanded.

Bunny swallowed, biting his lip, then gave North the best explanation he could, which consisted of three words, mumbled quite helplessly. "Hide and seek."

He went around the Warren, calling, distinctly unworried but thinking they'd better get Jack out now. Finally it was North who dragged Jack out of his hiding place and that was only by saying loudly, "Oh, the Pole gets so lonely without Jack…what will I do now that he's gone?"

Jack scampered out from his hiding place, past trees and a friendly egg golem that had been helping him find good hiding spots. "I'm right here!" he sounded distinctly aggrieved as he ran towards the two, his white hair a mess. "I was here the entire time."

"Then why didn't you come out?" Bunny demanded.

"I didn't know North was here," Jack corrected himself.

"Oh, that's nice," Bunny huffed. "So, let me get this straight: you would've stayed hidden from me all day, but you came out because of North?"

Jack grinned cheekily. "Sounds about right."

He turned to North. "Play with us?"


	81. We Were Bored Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 81: We Were Bored Part 2**

**The concept of turkey bowling came from the internet. Also, some of the suggestions Bunny's reading out from the list also aren't my idea. I found them on the internet by typing 'stupid things to do' in the Google Search bar xD You guys know my secret xD you guys now know how I get ideas for Jack and Bunny's stupidity xD**

**Yeah, Bunny's offer might get expounded upon in a different arc, but most likely not. I know a lot of people's head canon is that Jack can't read, but to me, I think he KNEW how, he just didn't know a whole lot of big words. He's obviously a smart person, because books only help make you smart in one area. Anyway, just freaking read. I'm sorry for rambling. We're ALMOST at three hundred reviews and I can't BELIEVE this is happening! All I need is six more! Just six little reviews...LITTLE reviews...so if any of you have the inexplicable desire to leave me lots and lots of reviews, it would be much appreciated. IF and only IF I hit 300, what do you think I should do to celebrate? Throw some North/Jack father/son into this arc, maybe? **

***sobs* I can't help it, I can only write Bunny/Jack brotherly fluff for so long before I desire North/Jack father/son after awhile!**

* * *

"Alright, we've got 'make up words that start with X'." Bunny and Jack just looked at each other.

Jack dug a hand into the bowl of gummy bears between them and shoved a red and green into his mouth without flinching.

Bunny grabbed a handful and did the same with yellow and orange.

They sat on the floor with a laptop they'd borrowed from one of the yetis; North had originally gotten one to keep the elves busy.

However, Jack and Bunny had gotten bored again and were now Googling better things to do than play hide and seek.

"Swear in Russian," Bunny said.

"I know how to do that," Jack replied, leaning back in his chair. He stretched a little, tired from hearing all these dumb ideas.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I checked out a Russian dictionary once."

"You…" Bunny wanted to say 'understood it' but his tactless question popped out instead. "…can read?"

Jack looked so offended the rabbit immediately regretted saying it.

"I'm not stupid," Jack muttered. Then his face grew bluer, like he was blushing. He sighed, staring at the keyboard for a second with the very worn letters. "I can't read very well."

"What do you mean, very well?" Bunny asked, shutting off the screen. "And that's not somethin' to be ashamed of, Jackie. Got lots of people in the world who don't read too well."

"Yeah, I bet none of them are three hundred and some odd years old," was Jack's reply. Then he lay back on the carpet and blinked up at the ceiling. "When I say I don't read very well, I mean I don't know big words and I…" he blushed a little darker. "And I need help pronouncing things."

There was a silence.

"Well…" Bunny said slowly, "I don't see what the big deal about it is."

"It wouldn't be one," Jack sighed, sitting up and wrapping his arms around himself, as if he were cold; Bunny knew that it was impossible for him to. "But I…I just…you know…" he sighed again, looking up at the ceiling fan as if the dust clods from its misuse was sincerely interesting. Then he sighed again and admitted, "But then again, it's because I've got no one to teach me."

Bunny considered him for a second. "You know, if you really wanted to learn how to read better…"

Jack still didn't look at him, so Bunny let his sentence trail off.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Bunny demanded.

"Well, if I really wanted to learn how to read better…?"

"I could teach you," Bunny offered.

"Really?" Jack jumped up, so excited that the wind carried him a little higher than he normally should have gone.

"Only if you wanted to," Bunny quickly added. "If you think it'd be boring or…you know, you've never really been interested in books…"

"No, I'd want to," Jack insisted. "Can we do it?"

"We can start in a few days, then, when the time suits both of us," Bunny decided. "In the meantime, anything else you wanna play?"

"No."

"Have you ever heard of turkey bowling?"

Jack looked baffled. "No…"

Bunny bit back a chuckle. "What! The Guardian of Fun doesn't know about turkey bowling?" he teased.

"Not my fault," Jack defended himself. "In case you haven't noticed, a lot can change in three hundred years."

Bunny shrugged. "Let's go see if North has what we need…"

* * *

North did have what they needed.

The two frozen turkeys were found much easier, however, than the ten two-liter sodas; North had made a yeti invest much time in hiding them from places Tooth was likely to see.

"Alright. We line 'em up like this, like bowling pins," Bunny replied. "And we do what we do with regular bowling."

"Alright," Jack shrugged. "Fair enough."

Bunny took the first turn, rolling his heavy frozen turkey down the pathway they'd cleared on the floor and it knocked down seven of the pins.

Jack scrambled to go get the turkey and came lugging it back with a bit of Dr. Pepper foam on his face. "I think you just used telepathy."

"What?" Bunny bit back a laugh, knowing Jack had just found out the hard way the risks of turkey bowling: the soda bottles were likely to explode all over somebody at any given time.

They continued on playing, at least until a yeti came in and chewed them out for getting soda everywhere AND for wasting food.

The yeti sternly handed them both mops and water buckets.

"This was _his_ idea," Jack defended himself, pointing at Bunny.

"No, Frostbite, this was _your_ idea…"

"Nooo, _you_ were the one who said…" he put on a gruff Australian accent and mimicked the rabbit. "'The Guardian of Fun doesn't know about turkey bowling?' This was YOUR idea!"

The yeti glared down at them both, unimpressed with both of them. Regardless of whose idea it was, Bunny and Jack knew they weren't getting out of the Pole until the room they'd used was spick-and-span.


	82. We Were Bored Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 82: We Were Bored Part 3 **

**LOL. This is the newest installment. :) Guess what happened this morning...! **

**...**

**...**

**YES THAT'S RIGHT I HIT 300 REVIEWS! *throws a bit of confetti* **

**Anyway, I really liked this chapter. This is the end of the turkey bowling part of the arc, but more fun is sure to come!**

* * *

It was an hour after Jack and Bunny had gotten caught for the turkey bowling incident.

The room wasn't even close to being done and Bunny and Jack were still laughing about the incident.

"You were the one who got us in trouble," Jack finally said in a low voice. "This was all your idea."

"Well…" Bunny stopped mopping, leaning on the handle. "…since you're so sure it's my fault and since I'm sure it isn't…"

"Yeah?" Jack asked, a grin appearing on his face. He just knew Bunny was getting another idea.

"Here's what we're gonna do…" Bunny whispered. He explained the idea to Jack, who was grinning widely now.

"And whoever wins," Bunny continued, "gets to skip out of cleaning."

* * *

Sixty event-filled minutes later, Bunny sneaked into the closet and saw Jack hurriedly scrawling on it with a marker.

"You've already got two hundred?" Jack groaned, looking at Bunny's tally marks as he capped the blue ink marker. "I've only got ninety-two!"

Bunny chuckled, taking the green marker. "Actually, make that two hundred and six."

"Ugh." Jack slumped against the wall, before they both heard hurried footsteps and a voice with a strong Russian accent singing a badly off-key 'Jingle Bells'.

He switched to humming 'Winter Wonderland' as he called to one of his yetis. "Grab some mops and buckets. We seem to have had an explosion of soda everywhere in one of the kitchens."

The yeti looked baffled as he mumbled something in Yetish, yanking open the closet door, catching Bunny and Jack red-handed; complete with markers in their hands.

"Um…" Bunny began.

"Ah…" Jack began giggling nervously. Whenever he got incredibly nervous, he laughed. "Um…er…well…bye!" And with that, he tore out of the closet, throwing his marker back on the floor and racing out of the room.

"Frostbite!" Bunny yelled. "Don't you let me take the blame _again!_" And with that, he flung his marker aside, too and hurtled out of the closet, after Jack.

North looked after them, shaking his head. "I don't even want to— he began. Before he could finish, a few discolored elves walked up to him, smiling and looking quite drunk.

"Oh, no…" he moaned. "Jack! Bunny! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ELVES? AND WHY," his voice rising with every syllable, he yelled after them, "ARE THESE THREE PURPLE?!"

Bunny stopped in his tracks. "Frostbite," he said nervously, "maybe…"

"No." Jack forestalled him. "We tell North nothing. _We keep him out of this."_

"Why?" Bunny demanded, but he kept running alongside Jack.

"Because," Jack muttered, "if he gets mad at us…" he stopped for a second, looking distinctly troubled, but he shook it off.

"North would never take his anger out on you," Bunny consoled him, stopping, too, and putting a paw on Jack's shoulder to stop him from running. "You practically walk on water to him, kiddo. C'mon. It'll soften the blow if we apologize."

However, a shadow fell over them and they looked up nervously.

Jack gulped.

Phil stood over them, holding up a multicolored elf.

* * *

"Explain."

The simple word made Jack look at Bunny for his version of the story.

They were sitting on opposite sides of the red and gold sofa in North's workroom, the one where he made his ice toys.

"Don't look at _me_…" Bunny muttered. "This was all _your_ idea…"

"No, this was _your _idea! _You_ were the one who decided to drag the elves into it!"

"Well, _you_ added the yeti and marker rules!"

"Boys!" North chastised, sounding extraordinarily like a father scolding his two sons. "What happened?"

Jack opened and closed his mouth, like a guppy, but nothing came out.

Bunny was doing much the same.

"Neither of you are in trouble," North said. "I just want to know what happened."

At these words, both let out a collective breath of relief and sank down on the couch.

North's mustache twitched. "Well?"

"It started with Bunny…"

"It started with Jack…"

"He had the idea to go turkey bowling…"

"I couldn't let him go another day without knowing how to turkey bowl…"

"And so he talked me into it."

"He talked me into teaching him…"

"We used some full two-liters of soda," Jack admitted, squirming a little guiltily. Bunny could only stare. Did he hear _guilt_ in Jack's voice?

"Um…" Jack coughed. "And the Dr. Pepper exploded on me. Well…a yeti caught us and made us clean up…"

"And?"

"Well, Bunny tried to deny he had the idea—

"_No,_ all I said was that it was your idea to go turkey bowling—

"NO, it was YOURS!"

"It was your fault!"

"_My_ fault? _My fault? _It's my fault I've never heard of a game that stupid?"

"Yes," Bunny snorted.

"Boys!"

"Right, yeah…so Bunny was trying to weasel out of cleaning—

"Was not," Bunny muttered under his breath.

"Bunny, please."

"—so he had the idea that we'd do a contest to see whose fault it really was and who had to clean." Jack finished. "And we set up the contest to where we'd…" he shifted uncomfortably. "It…it…" he sighed.

"It was my idea," Bunny muttered. "I told him we should spray paint the elves in all these colors and…and see how many we could get. Whoever had the most won and didn't have to clean."

"So?"

"So then I had the idea to say that if we were caught by a yeti, the game ended and whoever was caught lost and had to clean. And we had to keep track of how many elves we'd painted by writing on the wall of an unused closet with a marker." Jack finished. "Washable ones, by the way."

North sighed, but if they'd glanced away for even a moment, the younger Guardians might have missed his beard, which definitely twitched as he fought a smile. Finally, struggling to keep a straight face, he looked at them. "Well, who won?"

"What?"

"Who won?"

"I did." Bunny said.

"Well, Jack…" North turned to him. "Better get started."

"Seriously?"


	83. We Were Bored Part 4

**A/N: Chapter 83: We Were Bored Part 4 **

**Well, this is the newest chapter! 310 reviews? You guys rock! Thanks all! Hope you enjoy this! And hope you enjoyed last chapter as well. **

* * *

Jack was mopping when Bunny came in and he bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

Jack glared at him. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Well, what do you want?" Jack demanded, leaning on the mop.

"Just to tell you that you deserved it," Bunny smirked, gently taking the mop from him. "And to hand me that bucket of water."

"Deserved what, exactly?" Jack asked, looking aggrieved as he slammed the bucket of water down next to Bunny.

Bunny put the mop in it and began cleaning up some excess soda spill. "Having to clean."

"You're helping me?" Jack looked surprised.

"What are friends for?" shrugged Bunny.

Jack smiled, looking down and picking up another nearby mop.

* * *

"Thanks," Jack said, letting the mop drop down into the blue bucket.

Bunny shrugged, letting his mop fall, too.

There was a second of silence between the two.

"What do you want to do now?" Jack finally asked.

Bunny picked himself up from his chair and said, "What?"

"What are we gonna do next?"

"After all that?" Bunny scowled. "After what you put us through back there with North? I am NOT playing anything else with you!"

"It was your idea…!"

"Was not!"

"Yes, it was!"

"No, it wasn't!"

Jack sighed. It was that argument that had gotten them in trouble in the first place. "Okay, fine. So maybe it didn't turn out that great the first time. C'mon. It'll be fun this time."

"You always say that, but you don't mean it." Bunny accused.

"No, no! I really mean it this time!"

"Okay, Frostbite," Bunny sighed, crossing his arms, "what did ya have in mind?"

Jack smiled.

* * *

"Why are we doing this again?" Bunny asked.

"Because we can," Jack replied, "and because I'm not doing it, you are. I dared you to, remember?"

Bunny groaned. "Why did I ever agree to playing dares with you?"

"Shh! You're gonna give away our position!"

"This is not a spy movie!"

"Might as well be!"

"No, it isn't!"

Jack huffed. "Shush. They're coming this way!"

Bunny gave a long-suffering sigh and peered around the corner again, trying to get a glimpse of his target. "Okay," he whispered, "give it to me."

Jack happily handed him the red water balloon.

Bunny closed his eyes and prepared to toss it…and just as he tossed it, a new voice, a high, female one joined the conversation.

"Do you guys know where Jack is? North said he was probably gonna be in the Pole today seeing as it's sum—

She never got to finish her sentence. The water balloon hit her and exploded all over her, wetting her feathers.

Bunny stepped out from behind the corner, determined to say he was sorry, that Jack had dared him to drench a yeti with a water balloon and that he hadn't meant to hit her. Unfortunately, seeing the queen of the tooth fairy army with dripping wet feathers hit him harder than he had expected it to.

Instead of apologizing, he exploded into laughter, leaning against the wall for support.

Jack, meanwhile, was repeatedly punching Bunny in the shoulder, muttering, "Shut up! Shut up!"

This wasn't as effective as one could've hoped, however, because Jack was barely containing his own laughter.

Bunny was practically rolling and beating the ground with one fist and finally looked at Tooth and managed to choke out these words, "Jack…dare…his idea…" before he started laughing again.

Tooth crossed her arms as she waited for the boys to stop laughing.

When they finally did, she said, "Oh. Well, then. I guess you think it's funny, then, huh?" she fluffed up her feathers, looking extremely put out.

"Yeah," Jack said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Then, realizing what he'd just said, he added quickly, "I mean _no…"_

"Where did you guys get those water balloons anyway?"

"In that closet on the third floor—

"SHUT UP, CAN'T YA SEE SHE'S GOT THAT DEVIOUS MIND OF HERS WORKIN'?"

"Well, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"You boys better make yourselves scarce before I reach that closet!" Tooth threatened, though a smile played at her lips. "Or you'll both be soaked!"

"Technically, only Bunny will be soaked," Jack said as Tooth drifted away to see that closet. "Water just freezes when it—

"Mate," Bunny stage whispered, pointing at Tooth, who was zooming down the hallways of the North Pole.

"We'd better run, huh?"

"Definitely."


	84. We Were Bored Part 5

**A/N: Chapter 84: We Were Bored Part 5**

**Um...yeah...next part...**

**Also, to anyone who thinks Bunny is getting OOC, it's my theory that he used to be the youngest Guardian, before Jack so after the movie, he kind of gives Jack a hard time about how young he is, to kind of show that he's a step higher on the totem pole xD also, I think Bunny's a very immature person, a little like Jack, basically an overgrown kid. So when the Guardian of Fun joins and convinces Bunny to play a game with him, Bunny of course gets immature and seeing Tooth madder than a wet hen (a wet hummingbird?) hits him hard xD so he's gonna try not to laugh, but he's going to, anyway**

**Also, of course, Jack's the Guardian of Fun and he doesn't do well with boredom. Hence, why he and Bunny keep talking each other and themselves into playing these games xD **

**Also, it's my personal head canon that Bunny and Jack have really bad hallucinations when they have fevers xD **

* * *

They didn't get far.

They had just made it outside and were standing on the top step when Tooth came barreling out one of the open windows, pitching her water balloons with everything she had; luckily Jack managed to freeze ninety percent of them and even throw a snowball or two her way.

When she was out of ammo, she dipped down quickly enough to gather some snow and formed it into spheres, sending them at the two other Guardians on the ground.

Jack enthusiastically sent snowballs flying back at her and after awhile, even Bunny joined in, their cries echoing around the North Pole's wintry landscape.

"Oh, no, crap, it's coming for me!" Bunny avoided a snowball from Tooth and fifteen from Jack. Easy.

Seeing as they were surrounded by his element, Jack was definitely winning.

Jack dodged another snowball of Tooth's and laughed at her, doing a rude but accurate impression of her attempting to throw a snowball at him and failing.

"Haha! Can't catch me!"  
"Oh, that was mature."

"Uh-oh. She's loadin' up on snowballs, mate."

"Relax! I'm Jack Frost! You can't ever, ever take me by surpri—

WHAP.

The snowball hit Jack hard on the cheek and there was a tense silence as Tooth tried to retain her giggles before realizing Jack wasn't laughing.

In fact, he was holding his jaw as if it pained him.

"Jack?" Tooth asked, fluttering nearer to him.

"Mate?" Bunny hopped over to the winter spirit. "She didn't throw it that hard, did she?"

Then Jack clocked them both with snowballs.

Nearly falling down in his laughter, he managed to gasp out, "That's…why…you don't…_ (Gasp) _hit the spirit…_ (Gasp)_ of winter…with a _(gasp) _snowball."

"That's not funny!" Bunny shouted in protest, crossing his arms. "I thought you were seriously hurt, mate!"

This just made Jack laugh even harder. "Aw…you _do_ care."

Unimpressed and nowhere near amused, Bunny glared, waiting for the winter spirit to exhaust himself by laughing.

When he finally did, a positive wall of snowballs was coming at him and he barely managed to avoid them.

"Admit it, you guys, it was funny," Jack smirked, balancing his feet on top of the 'G' shape on his staff.

"You're the only one who thought so," Bunny said hotly. "The rest of us think you were just being a ratbag again."

Jack smirked and hopped down from his staff onto the snowy ground. He brought a blast of cold air with him and Bunny shivered. He'd been out in the snow too long.

Immediately, Jack stopped grinning. His smile faded, to be replaced with a look of worry and he hurried over to Bunnymund, blue eyes wide. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Bunny said with a dismissive wave of the paw. "Nothin' a couple minutes back in the Warren won't fix."

"Maybe you should go back there," Jack suggested nervously. "You're shivering and I don't want you to get sick."

Bunny snorted at the idea of he, the Easter Bunny, getting _sick. _"I don't think so, mate," he chuckled. "I'm fine."

Tooth rolled her eyes lovingly at Bunny's show of false bravado, knowing the rabbit was most likely freezing. "Go home, Bunnymund. I think both Jack and I would much rather be bored for a couple minutes than risk losing you to a fever."

She glanced at Jack. "He hallucinates when he has fevers."

"I do not," argued Bunny.

Jack was torn between believing Tooth and believing Bunny.

He couldn't see a fevered, hallucinating Bunnymund, but he could also easily picture the rabbit lying about it. He shoved the thought out of his mind. "Go home, Bunny," he encouraged. "You're getting sick."

Bunny rolled his eyes and tapped the ground with his foot. "Whatever."

As he left, he called, "When I come back, Frostbite, I expect you to be ready to play again!"

"Sure thing, cottontail!" Jack called after him. He thought he heard a booming laugh just before the rabbit's furry ears disappeared beneath the ground.


	85. Doomed To Be Alone

**A/N: Chapter 85: Doomed To Be Alone**

**Sorry that all you guys get today is a poem :P **

**I'll be honest with you guys here: I didn't feel like working on the 'We Were Bored' arc. I know lots of you like it and I thank you all for the kind reviews you've been leaving me over the past few days, but I just don't want to work on it today. You might also get a poem from me, tomorrow, as well. **

**Don't worry, I haven't completely given up on the arc. I just don't want to work on it today. **

**Please R&R and I will try to get the next part for 'We Were Bored' written soon. Okay? **

* * *

From a frozen pond, he rose,

Living in secrets that no one knows.

From the time that his body cleared the ice,

He knew he would pay a terrible price.

* * *

Everybody walked through him, leaving him alone,

He cried out for the warmth of a family and a home.

No one knew him, this winter boy you threw away,

His fears were some of which you could never fully allay.

* * *

His walls were up fast and up so hard,

That nobody could ever try to fix his shattered heart.

Because he's been shattered and shattered quite well,

What kind of story will his life tell?

* * *

His walls are up, and up for a reason,

Trying to hide out from the coldest season.

It's a part of him, now, he's a child of the cold,

And a child of winter is doomed to be alone.


	86. Finding Mrs Claus

**A/N: Chapter 86: Finding Mrs. Claus**

**Um, this is a basically a fun-filled one-shot that I guess could be seen as the next chapter in the 'We Were Bored' arc but it doesn't have the same theme as 'We Were Bored'. It has more of a...back story edge type thing as to where Mrs. Claus originated from. Anyway, while I wait for my creative juices to kick in, I thought you guys couldn't object to a bit of Jack/Bunny brotherly fluff with a bit of romance and an OC thrown in.**

**What do you think of her?**

**P.S: This isn't slash. I realize how misleading the 'a bit of romance' thing can be.**

* * *

"North, did you ever have a wife?"

"What?" North looked up from his sawing out a new ice toy and cut the saw off, setting it down.

"Did you ever have a wife?"

At North's perplexed look, Jack explained. "All the old tales said you did…that there was a Mrs. Claus…but there's not one now…did you ever have a wife?"

North sighed and shook his head. "Those old 'Mrs. Claus' tales are nothing but nonsense." Then a thought struck him, well, more like a suspicion really, and he gave Jack a look. "Why? What were you thinking of?"

"Nothing," Jack was quick to say, in a rather defensive tone, too, North noted.

North just raised a thick gray eyebrow and narrowed his sparkling blue eyes, turning back to his work.

Jack hopped off the armrest of the sofa he'd perched on and flew off, into the next room, where he knew Bunny was.

* * *

"You know, that's kind of weird," Jack said as he sat down next to Bunny on the couch.

"What's kind of weird?" Bunny asked, lifting an eyebrow and sitting up so he could see Jack better.

"That North never had a wife," Jack stated thoughtfully. "I mean, in all the old lore I've heard about him, there was a Mrs. Claus."

"Well…" Bunny shrugged. "It isn't that strange."

"I mean, haven't the rest of you guys had a wife or girlfriend or something?" Jack pressed, looking up at him with wide blue eyes.

Bunny's ears went flat against his head as he sat up fully. "Haven't you?"

Jack's cheeks went an icy blue color as he blushed. "We're getting off the subject."

Bunny chuckled and said, wanting to irritate the winter spirit, "C'mon. You're a fine specimen of a spirit. What girl wouldn't be tripping all over herself—?"

"Bunny." Jack forestalled him with that single word.

Bunny grinned, making a mental note to tease him later, since Jack clearly wasn't keen on the subject of the opposite sex. "Okay, I'm done," he promised, holding up both paws as if in surrender. "Honestly, though, mate. What's so weird about it?"

"I don't know," Jack shrugged. "I mean, when you think about it, that's weird, isn't it?"

Bunny snorted. "Everyone's weird these days, Jackie."

"Hmm…" Jack considered for a moment, then he brightened. "Maybe we could change that."

"What?" snorted Bunny. "You tellin' me you want to play matchmaker?"

"Yeah," Jack agreed, eyes sparkling. "We can set out to find Mrs. Claus!"

"Oh…here we go again…" Bunny groaned.

* * *

Jack dithered for several long minutes about whether or not to let Tooth and Sandy in on the mission, but Bunny quickly made him drop the idea by mentioning past significant others Sandy and Tooth had had.

"So?"

"So, what?" Jack demanded.

"So what are we gonna do about finding Mrs. Claus?" Bunny asked. "I mean, this was all your idea."

"Search me," Jack replied. "It's not like we can just go online and sign him up for a dating site."

"Actually…" Bunny mused. "I know this spirit who could help us."

"Who?" Jack asked, giving him a weird look.

"You'll see," Bunny chuckled. "For now, let's go find where she's at."

"It's a she, then, huh?" Jack mused to himself. "I don't know many nice female spirits...the nice male spirits are practically nonexistent, so…"

Bunny tapped the ground with his foot and they slid down dirt-covered slides and up through tunnel chutes until they found themselves in front of a grand pink castle with trees nearly blocking the turrets from view and a red flag flying merrily atop one of the purple rooftops.

Jack's eyes widened as he saw what the building looked like and he began backing away very fast. "Ohh, no, we are not seeing the spirit of Valentine's Day for this!"

"Why not?" Bunny demanded, marching right up to the front gate and pressing the little red button.

Soon, Cupid herself appeared at the gate in a flash of pink smoke and saw who waited on the other side. "Aster! It's been too long! Last time I saw you, you were just starting out as a Guardian, weren't you?"

Bunny nodded, smiling cheerfully at her.

"And Jack Frost!" her red lips stretched into a wide grin. "Last time I saw you, we were dealing with some rather nasty business concerning—

"That's enough," Jack cut in rudely.

Cupid shrugged, smiling a secret smile as she turned away.

Following her gaze, Bunny saw why: Jack was blushing again, fingers tapping against thin air. He was clearly anxious to be gone.

"Come in, come in!" Cupid cried, throwing open the gate door and smiling at them cheerfully. "Wow. The spirit of Easter and the spirit of winter, coming to see me together. This must be my lucky day. You both need help, then, I suppose?" Giving them up-and-down looks, she added rather dryly, "I can't imagine why."

Jack looked offended, but Bunny gave him a 'that's Cupid for you' type look. Though by the sound of it, Jack had met Cupid once before and hadn't liked it one bit.

"We're not looking for help in our own situations," Bunny admitted. "We've got a friend who we think you can help."

"Really?" Cupid clapped her hands together. Upon closer inspection, her fingernails were bright red, perfectly matching her lipstick.

She flipped her red-blonde, curly hair back over one shoulder and beckoned them to follow her.

When they were settled in a little white room with pink bean bag chairs, she settled on the white loveseat and hugged a fuzzy purple heart-shaped pillow to the chest of her black dress. "Alright. Who do you need help with?"

"Santa Claus," Bunny replied, getting right to the point.

"Oh." Her blue eyes widened. "Oh." She sighed, the happiness suddenly leaking out of her, leaving her to look like a deflated balloon.

Jack almost felt sorry for her.

Cupid was rarely ever sad.

"Well…um…" she pushed her long blonde hair back from her face and began chewing one of her fire-engine red nails. "I just…I don't know if…"

"You don't know if what?" Jack pressed, leaning closer.

"There isn't supposed to be a Mrs. Claus," Cupid confessed. "There never was supposed to be. But then, there's an ancient legend surrounding Valentine's Day saying anyone can find love and if people thought Santa himself couldn't find love, what would they think of me? So I helped the rumor that North had found himself a wife. That's where the tale of Mrs. Claus, the kind old lady who spends all her time baking, comes from. North knew what I was doing and it isn't wrong to spread rumors among the spirits. People do it all the time. I explained to him why and he was okay with it, allowing the rumor to spread so people still believed in me. Only…there was a slight problem with that, which is that North doesn't belong with anyone. Everybody has a somebody and North doesn't. Not a single one."

She was starting to get more open now. "I've looked all over for her. There isn't anyone whom North belongs with and it's not for lack of trying that I haven't found her, because, believe me, every year, I try—

"We get it," Jack cut in, his limited sympathy coming back into play. "We just…wanted to know if you could help."

"I'm sorry," Cupid said. "There's no somebody out there for North. If there was, I would have found them by now."

"Hey, Sheila," Bunny said.

"Yeah?"

"Also, my friend Frostbite needs a bit of help…seems he's had some trouble findin' a woman—

"Ooh!" Cupid looked delighted, grabbing up the fuzzy heart pillow again.

Jack glared at Bunny with an 'I will get you back for this' type look as Cupid's familiar, dreamy smile returned to her face.

"Who is it?" she sang. "Because last time, I recall the spirit you had a thing for. Quite a nice girl, really. Please tell me it's still her?"

Bunny was barely containing his laughter as he excused himself, purposely avoiding Jack's venomous gaze.


	87. Heartache

**A/N: Chapter 87: Heartache**

**Wow! So it's been awhile since I've had one of these chapters - you know, short. No dialogue xD anyway, this is set pre-movie. I originally posted a poem from Jack's POV to North called "In Your Arms" and decided I didn't want it up here yet. It'll get re-posted later, though 'Lonely Winter Spirits' or whatever the HECK that arc was called never got re-posted :3 **

* * *

This constant ache was something that wouldn't go away. It was a constant pain in Jack's heart, an everlasting ache, like a part of him had turned so cold it could never be warmed again.

He was so upset about it, the constant aloneness, so depressed and anxious, so terrified nobody would ever believe in him that he did whatever he could to get his mind off the depression and fear. Yet the ache in his heart persisted, reminding him he was doomed to aloneness forever.

His heart was aching constantly and no one cared.


	88. Fragmented

**A/N: Chapter 88: Fragmented**

**This was written months ago as a response to the prompt "fragment". I shoved this to the back of my mind and found it last night and realized it wasn't half bad.**

**It's set during the Antarctica scene, right after Jack got a good verbal kick in the nuts from Bunny. Seriously? I wasn't even that angry with Bunny. His holiday had just been DESTROYED. It was wrong to blame Jack with no other proof than a tooth box and a missing mini fairy, yes, but...well...can you blame 'em? **

* * *

Fragmented,

Alone,

Cold,

Alone. Again.

* * *

It shouldn't be surprising,

It's been this way for so long.

I should be used to it,

Why am I not used to it?

* * *

Ice world all around me,

Snowflakes drifting down,

My creations fail,

To bring me joy.

* * *

The cause of all this,

Is this stupid tooth box,

That I carry in my hands.

I wish I could throw it away.

* * *

I wish I could throw it far away from me,

So I'd never have to look at it again,

And be reminded of my mistakes.

But it holds all the answers.

* * *

And then you whisper,

"I thought this might happen."

And I just want you to go away,

Why can't you just go away?

* * *

"What goes together better than cold and dark?"

Just leave me alone.

"They'll believe in both of us."

No, fear isn't what I want.

* * *

Just leave me alone.

Can't you see I'm tired?

And then you do leave me alone,

With all these broken, fragmented versions of myself,

* * *

The wooden pieces,

Of my broken staff all around me,

Baby Tooth on the ground beside me,

I'm surrounded by the mess I made.

I guess you were right.

* * *

And that I make a mess of everything.

Just leave me alone.

In this mess I made.

* * *

Fragmented,

Alone,

Cold.

Alone. Again.


	89. The Dangers of Chocolate

**A/N: Chapter 89: The Dangers of Chocolate**

**This was done off the prompt 'chocolate'. xD Furthermore, I'm so sorry I didn't update Shattered. I mean, even a poem would have been good, right? But I forgot :( I'm sorry :( and by the time I remembered, it was midnight. :( I'm sorry :( Also, I can't write RotG unless I want to :( **

* * *

"JACK FROST!"

"What?" Jack sat bolt upright in his cushioned red chair, a Hershey Kiss half in his mouth and half out. He quickly sucked it in and swallowed and Tooth glared at him, hands on her hips. It made him remember the prank he'd just pulled on Baby Tooth and a few other mini fairies. "I didn't do it!"

"Ooh, somebody's got a guilty conscience, mate," Bunny ribbed, poking Jack in the side. It was about ten minutes before the Guardian meeting would officially start, and Jack had taken a piece of chocolate out of the small pile the elves snacked on.

North was busy chewing out a yeti and talking to Sandy about something, leaving just Jack, Bunny and Tooth (who still hadn't gotten over the water balloon incident, by the way.)

"Okay," Jack admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, "that's a lie, I did. I'm sorry, it won't happen again, I'll stick to pranking Bunny in the future—

"Hey!" Bunny interjected.

In spite of herself, Tooth giggled a little. "No. This isn't about the prank you pulled, though Baby Tooth told me all about that." Her purple eyes suggested disapproval, but they also sparkled with mirth. "What did you just eat?"

"Uh…a Hershey Kiss?" Jack suggested hopefully.

"Exactly!" Tooth snapped. "And do you know what Hershey Kisses are?"

"Um…chocolate?" Jack decided to bypass sarcasm, but just this once and only because he'd never seen Tooth look so angry before, not even when Bunny had accidentally splashed her with that water balloon. (See Chapter 83, We Were Bored Part 4.)

"EXACTLY!" Tooth boomed. "And do you know what chocolate could do to perfectly white teeth such as yours?"

"Well…" Jack began uncomfortably, searching for an answer. "I suppose it could potentially hurt my teeth and leave cavities…" At these words, Tooth looked horrified all over again, closing her eyes, shaking her head and tut-tutting. "…but if it's eaten in moderation, only a few pieces every hundred years, then how can you argue?"

Tooth glared at him, crossing her arms. Her feathers were ruffled up behind her, a sure sign she was angry. "Even a few pieces every century could do horrors on your teeth! Do you know what plaque is?"

"Of course I do," Jack snapped. "It's the stuff that builds up on teeth from too much sugar, right?"

Tooth's annoyed look disappeared. "You actually know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, I do," Jack said, annoyed. "And I can tell you, before this, I have never even touched chocolate."

"Oh!" Tooth's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. She could feel her cheeks heating up. "Sorry, I…I just…"

"It's fine," Jack rolled his eyes, smiling at her.

"I…oh, that's really great, though, that you've never eaten chocolate before and ooh, no wonder your teeth stay so white…"

Then Tooth seemed to remember herself. "Right. You should go brush."

"What?" Jack demanded.

"C'mon. You just ate chocolate for the first time in…" she hesitated, unsure how long it had been.

"Three hundred and sixteen years," Jack supplied.

"Three hundred and sixteen years!" Tooth repeated, snapping her fingers. "You don't know how your teeth will react. Go on. Go."

"Ugh," Jack groaned, trying to ignore Bunny's smirk. But he knew Tooth wouldn't let him rest until he had listened to her.


	90. Frozen

**A/N: Chapter 90: Frozen**

**WE ARE ON 90 CHAPTERS, WOO-HOO! THIS IS AMAZING, GUYSSSS! xD Thanks for all your reviews, follows, favorites and reads! :) They really mean a lot to me. To make up for not updating yesterday, here's an angsty little Super Drabble/mini one-shot/whatever set in the 'Jack betrays' scene. I hate that it's called that on the RotG soundtrack. (I categorize all movie scenes with the name of the score that plays there.) It's like, WITCH, JACK DID NOT BETRAY, EVERYONE JUST THOUGHT HE DID! **

* * *

I wanted to react. I really did. I wanted to yell at them, to tell them to leave me alone and let me breathe. I honestly wanted to say something.

But I was frozen.

I wanted to open my mouth and defend myself against North's disgusted look; Tooth's disappointed purple eyes and Bunny's accusations. I wanted to defend myself when I never had before.

But I was frozen.

I wanted to tell North and Tooth it wasn't what they thought, but the right words wouldn't come. What did come was silence.

I was frozen in silence.

Then came the voice from behind me, the rage and grief and accusation in it thick enough to reach out and touch had I harbored any desire to. But I only harbored the desire to get away, to make Bunny understand what nobody else would.

But I was frozen.

"He has to go," Bunny whispered and my heart broke once. Of course I had to go. I always had to go. I didn't belong. Winter could never fit in. With their bright colors and vibrant sunsets, the other seasons stood together, united. With its bleak landscapes and color schemes of gray, black and white, winter could never belong.

I was frozen.

"WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE TRUSTED YOU!" Bunnymund yelled and my heart broke twice. It reminded me of the blizzard of '68. It wasn't the first time I'd gotten the message that everyone hated me and it definitely wasn't the last. Winter was utterly unlovable.

I was frozen.

I backed away from him. I had been determined, when I saw the cracked eggs, to make things right. To sympathize with the rabbit. I had been determined to make things better. Now it was clear why I hadn't. Because I couldn't. Because I made a mess wherever I went and this was just one more in a long line.

I was frozen.

I'd wanted to tell Bunny I knew how it felt. That I'd survived it for three hundred years. I wanted to tell him to grit his teeth, bear through it and remember it wouldn't always be like this. I ached to tell one of the only people in the world who bothered to pretend to care pretty little lies.

But I was frozen.

"Easter is new beginnings," Bunny whispered sadly. "New life. Easter's about hope. And now it's gone."

Yes. It was.


	91. North's Coat

**A/N: Chapter 91: ****North's Coat**

**OKAY, I NEEDED FATHER/SON FLUFF WITH NORTH AND JACK, OKAY?! I JUST NEEDED A BIT OF NORTH/JACK FLUFF, IS THAT SO WRONG? I fear I made it a bit...too fluffy. Because there's no such thing as too much angst, but there IS such a thing as too much fluff. And I fear I overdosed on the fluff a little, here. An overdose on fluff should feel like bad medicine, like sickly sweet but good, just-the-right-amount type fluff should feel like gummy vitamins: sweet. Just plain fluffy and beautiful and sweet. :) So does it feel like bad medicine or gummy vitamin? **

**This drabble thingy was actually inspired by a picture by 'artoftheguardians' on tumbler. I misspelled it so it'll show up in the AN. Anyway, it was a drawing of Jack wearing North's coat and pretending to be him and it begged me to be written, because it promised North/Jack fluff. OKAY, IT PROMISED FLUFF. I HAD TO DO IT.**

* * *

_Ugh._ He should've known.

You leave something lying around for two seconds, _two seconds_, and Jack was all over it like flies on day-old pizza.

North actually was struggling not to laugh as Jack tripped over the too-long red coat that had been deemed "missing" all day. The hat was far too big for Jack's head and it kept slipping over his eyes.

He pushed it up again and began speaking in a bad, too-strong Russian accent. "I feel it…in my belly!"

He took off the hat and tucked it into one of the coat's many pockets, deeming it too itchy and big to wear. He'd slip the clothing back into North's room and no one would be any the wiser…

Then a shadow fell over him.

"Um…uh…oh…hi, North," Jack waved nervously, trying to act nonchalant as the sleeves slipped over his hands.

"You found my coat, I see," North said in a severe-sounding voice, but his eyes twinkled with silent laughter.

"Yeah…" Jack gave another nervous laugh and pushed the sleeves up. "Um. Here. I might have gotten a little…um…carried away when I found it." He meekly offered the coat up to North.

North's lips twitched momentarily and Jack looked relieved.

"Don't think you're off the hook, yet, Jack!" North threatened teasingly, never missing a beat. "I bet you got ice in the pockets."

"Um…yeah…well…better go give a snow day, bye!"

"Completely ignoring the fact that it's summer!" North called after him, giving chase and tripping over the coat Jack had left in the way. Picking it up and shouldering it, he chased after the winter spirit who eventually had to pause to catch his breath, not used to going this fast with his feet on the ground.

"Gotcha!" North cried, grabbing him.

"Ugh…not fair," Jack protested.

North chuckled. "It's plenty fair, Jack. We followed the rules of chasing, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but…" _(Gasp)_ "…I haven't run this fast in a…" _(Gasp) _"…long time."

North smiled to himself as the spirit resituated himself.

"Ugh," Jack groaned, rubbing at his eyes and curling up against the wall. Then a frightening thought seemed to strike him. "You're not that mad, are you?"

"Course I'm not," North replied easily. "Although…" he looked crafty here and added, "I think it's time this little spirit learned a lesson!"

He charged forward and tackled the winter spirit, who laughed uncontrollably as North tickled him.

Finally, they broke apart, gasping, both slightly breathless.

North smiled at him again, and then said, "Just steer clear of the yetis for awhile. They're still looking and they won't be too happy when they learn that you stole it."

Then he started walking back to his quarters, calling out behind him, "This is going to be remembered when I make the naughty list this year, Jack!"

"Sure thing, North!"


	92. Dead Wrong

**A/N: Chapter 92: Dead Wrong**

**Okay D: This just sort of...happened :P I'm sorry :P I re-watched RotG and feels threatened. They wanted to be in my story...again! I considered angst and then decided this was plenty angst enough :) **

**Furthermore, I'm really sorry I didn't update these past two days. I know it's no excuse, but I've been working on my HTTYD fic.**

**Seriously...where was my common sense when I agreed to work on twenty fics at once? **

* * *

"Jack?" The Russian accent pierced the quiet air sharply. The winter spirit whom he had addressed didn't look up.

His hood was up over his head and he stared out at the snowy landscape, hands clenched into such tight little fists that his fingers were even whiter than they usually were.

"Jack." North repeated gently, tilting the boy's chin upward, forcing him to look into the older Guardian's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Jack mumbled a response, one North didn't catch.

"What?" he asked.

Jack sighed, pressing his hands down, hard, on the windowsill. "I said I don't…I don't…" he swallowed, took a deep breath and tried again. "I just think I'm not fit to be a Guardian."

He darted an anxious look at North, who stared at him for a second before the older man's expression softened.

"Not fit to be a Guardian?" he repeated slowly. "Of course you're fit to be a Guardian! What would ever make you think differently?"

Jack lowered his eyes to the dusty windowsill.

"Jack, look at me," North whispered.

There was silence and Jack didn't move.

"Jack, look at me—

"It's just the others, alright?" Jack snapped the words out so fast North nearly missed them. "_Now leave me alone!"_

Jack's staff was glowing bright blue, a sure sign he was on the edge.

"What others?" North wasn't afraid of the winter spirit's power; he trusted the frost child not to hurt him. He just wished Jack could return the trust.

"Just…the other spirits…and stuff," Jack replied quietly, not daring to meet North's eyes.

_If only North had left me alone…_

"Can you be a little more specific?" North felt the familiar rage bubbling beneath the surface. It always started when Jack talked about the other spirits, the ones like Trick and Treat and Black Ice.

"I mean…Black Ice…" Jack mumbled. "He tried to wipe you guys' memories so I'd join him, so I'd see I wasn't Guardian material…I just…" he stole a glance at North and plunged on recklessly. "Maybe he's right."

"Jack, listen to me," North said, half-angry and half-sad. He was furious with everybody, everybody who had ever dared to lay a hand on this boy in front of him, furious at himself for never being there for him and he was heartbroken. Heartbroken because, by now, it was too late. Jack didn't really need a Guardian anymore. He didn't need them. He knew how to take care of himself. "You are a Guardian. Man in the moon _chose _you. And he did one hell of a job."

Jack gave a reluctant smile, feeling tears build up in his eyes, but for the first time in a long time, they weren't tears of anger or fear or sadness; they were tears of happiness and hope and contentment, because there was somebody standing in front of him willing to comfort and love him, to be there for him, to be his family.

"And anybody else," North continued, "who ever tries to tell you you're not good enough…" he reached over and gently pulled down Jack's hood and the boy didn't protest. "…is dead wrong."

Jack smiled a little, feeling a few tears escape his eyes and fall down his face. For the first time in a long time, North hadn't listened. He hadn't listened when Jack had told him to leave him alone.

And it felt nice.


	93. Getting A Date Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 93: Getting a Date Part 1**

**New arc! xD This could also possibly be seen as a continuation of the 'We Were Bored' arc, so see it whatever way you want to. There'll be lots of brotherly Bunny in these upcoming chapters xD but mostly it'll be Jack bumbling around xD because a lot of other people do it where Jack wants to ask the girl out or something, but this is where he kind of has to xD **

* * *

"Okay, truth or dare?"

"Give me a dare," Jack replied, sitting up long enough to peer at the laptop screen before flopping back down on the wooden floor. "I'm feeling brave. Sixty-one."

They had a list of questions and a list of dares, both going up to two hundred, and they picked a number and a truth or dare and were given it.

"Alright, your dare is summon the supernatural to this game," Bunny read. "And you can pass if you're scared."

"I'm Jack Frost," Jack snorted, sitting up. "I fear nothing." So, sitting Indian style, he put his elbows on his knees and began chanting.

"What are you doing?" Bunny demanded.

"Shh!" Jack said, squinting his eyes even tighter shut. "You're breaking my fragile connection with the undead!"

The window's half-open latch was suddenly pushed all the way open and a girl with dark, curly red hair and warm brown eyes was resting on the sill, staring at Jack in apparent amusement. "What are you doing?" she asked, chuckling.

"Ahh!" Jack opened his eyes and stumbled backward, startled so suddenly out of his "fragile connection with the undead".

"Jeez, Vic, why would you do that?" he demanded. "I was communicating with a ghost! And then you come bursting in here and—

"So much for fearing nothing," Bunny said with a smirk.

The girl rolled her eyes, pushing her long hair back behind her ears. She nodded at Bunny respectfully and said, "I heard you became a Guardian, Jack. Came to see if the rumors were true. And I've got something for you."

She handed him a scarlet envelope. "I'm the one throwing the ball this time, so I invited you. All the other spirits are invited, too, but I made them promise to be nice."

"What's going on?" Bunny asked curiously, coming over to see.

Jack was gazing down at the envelope with his name written on it, brow wrinkled. "Um…this is all very flattering…" Bunny was strongly reminded of Jack's first day at the North Pole, the day Manny chose him. "…but, uh, what's this ball business?"

"You know what it is," the girl said. There was something familiar about her, Bunny thought, but he just couldn't put his paw on it. "You know, the ball where all the—oh. Well, of course you wouldn't know what it is, I don't think Genevieve or June would make much of an attempt to include you, huh?" She gave him a sad smile, those brown eyes sad for him.

It was true she was a bit of an outcast from the world of the spirits, too, but that was different. She'd more or less chosen to be an outcast by siding with Jack over June Sunshine, the spirit of summer.

Bunny suddenly remembered where he'd seen her before: she was the spirit of fall, the one who'd helped Jack when the spirit of Halloween left him for dead in the desert.

Bunny had never met her personally, but he'd seen what had happened that day when he'd accidentally gotten trapped in a world compromised entirely of Jack's worst memories, darkest nightmares and deepest fears.*

"The ball is where one seasonal spirit or holiday spirit throws a huge party just before their holiday or season begins, to kind of celebrate the fact that they'll be out in the field for a couple days or weeks. This year, it's my turn to throw one, so…" she smiled. "I'm throwing one because it's the end of summer."

"That's awesome, Vic," Jack congratulated warmly and he really meant it. He liked Victoria Fall (though not in that way, of course) and they were alike in the way that they were both spirits of colder seasons. "But…uh, why—why are you inviting me?"

"Because you're my friend," Victoria replied. "And you've never been to one, so it'll be an adventure."

"Okay…this sounds kind of fun…" Jack confessed. Then he looked up at Victoria and said, "Wait, I can't."

"Why not?"

"You…" he looked a little downcast. "You're inviting all the spirits, right? I'd rather not get in the middle of that."

"Didn't I just explain the invite comes with the condition of being nice?" sighed Victoria. "That's the only real requirement for this ball. Oh, yeah, and I suggest you bring a date. Everybody else is."

"Whoa, whoa, what?" Jack asked as Victoria crossed the room to the window and parked it on the sill.

"I said you need a date!" Victoria repeated before flying off.

_Oh, no…_

* * *

***Jack's Nightmares arc, Chapter 56-59**


	94. Getting A Date Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 94: Getting a Date Part 2**

**xD I really enjoyed this chap :D Also, help me! Should I work on this arc or Overachiever? I want to write fluff, but I also want angst and this is fluff and Overachiever is angst...which should I do? :P **

* * *

Once Victoria Fall had left, Jack stood there for a second, gazing out the window. Then he sighed and reluctantly turned back to Bunny. "That was the spirit of autumn," he explained. "You might not have met her before—why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Sounds like our little Snowflake has to find himself a date," Bunny smirked, standing up and walking over to Jack, practically pinning him against the wall. "So…"

Jack could feel his cheeks beginning to heat up. "So what?" he asked calmly.

"So, who are you gonna ask?" Bunny asked, leaning one paw against the wall. "Because I heard from Cupid that you're crushin' on a fine-looking Sheila…"

If Jack had been thinking sensibly, or if he wasn't thoroughly rattled by Victoria's news and also faced with the possibility of asking a girl out on a date, he would've answered quite calmly with something simple. "I don't have a thing for anyone," he would've said.

But no. What popped out was, "What did she tell you?"

Of course, Bunny laughed to the moon and back about that. "Oh, so there is someone?" he teased, a smirk widening on his face. "Well, here's your chance, Frostbite."

"I can't!" Jack said, too loudly – a couple passing yetis peeked in to make sure nothing was wrong.

"Ahem," Bunny coughed. "Just a friendly chat, mates. Nothin's wrong." He waved them away, simultaneously taking a paw off Jack's shoulder, unpinning him.

Jack breathed a little sigh of relief, attempting to scamper away, but Bunny caught him before he could.

"Not so fast, Jackie," he chuckled. "You still didn't answer my question."

Jack sighed, the purple blush growing darker and more visible. "She'sthespiritofspringhername'sgenevievebloomarey ouhappy?"

"What? Sorry, I didn't catch that," Bunny grinned.

Jack sighed, casting Bunny a resentful glare but straightening out his words and slowing himself down nonetheless. "I said she's the spirit of spring and her name's Genevieve Bloom. You've probably seen her before. But she won't ever go with me, so I guess I'll just find somebody else, if I go at all."

"No, I can't say I have seen the spirit of spring before," Bunny replied carelessly, shooting Jack a teasing glance. "I suppose this is the perfect time for me to meet her."

"No!" Jack protested loudly. Then he sighed again, lowering his voice. "No. The last thing I need is one of you guys going up there and screwing up my chances with her, alright?"

At Bunny's offended look, he added quickly, "Not that I think you'd screw anything up. It's just…anyway, it's probably better, because if it got back to North or Tooth, they'd never drop it."

"What makes you think I'm going to?" Bunny asked.

Jack groaned.

"C'mon, mate. Just ask her."

"I can't." Jack replied in a defeated sort of voice.

"Why not?"

"Because I've never asked out a girl before."

"What?"

"You heard me, Kangaroo. I've never asked out a girl before. In case you haven't noticed, in three hundred years alone, you stop noticing girls."

"Oh." Bunny chewed his lip.

Jack's expression had darkened and the blush had faded. He was thinking darker thoughts about his time alone, Bunny guessed.

"Alright, c'mon."

"What? Why?"

"I'm gonna help you with this girl."

"Wha—Bunny…c'mon, it's easier if we just let it drop—

"C'mon. I'm gonna help you."

Jack sighed. Lord only knew what would happen next.


	95. Getting a Date Part 3

**A/N: Chapter 95: Getting a Date Part 3**

**xD I'm not sure it's chapter 95 or not, but woo! I can't believe we've hit this many! Thank you guys for the reviews! I shall try to write the next part! I might update tomorrow, I might not. I'm on the brink of finishing my HTTYD fic, 'Overachiever' so I might be really into that one. **

* * *

Genevieve Bloom heard a knocking on the door of her tree.

Her home was quite a cozy one, with a pink couch covered in flowers, a small bed in the corner and a bathroom down the hall. The tree had been hollowed out for her living space and it created quite a woodsy atmosphere (which made sense, because she did live in a forest, after all, in the middle of a tree).

When she opened the little door carved so perfectly into the trunk that almost no one could tell it was there, she was unpleasantly surprised to see Jack Frost.

It wasn't spring yet – in fact, it was about to be autumn, so Genevieve failed to see why the winter twit had come to her tree to taunt her some more.

"Hey, um, Genevieve?" he looked nervous and his face was a bit bluer than normal, almost like he was blushing. But that wouldn't make sense…

"What do you want, Frost?" she sighed, leaning against the doorframe, a light autumn breeze playing with the hem of her dress and a few strands of dark brown hair. "I'm busy."

"I…uh…" he looked like he was about to fly off or say something stupid; whichever one he did, Genevieve hoped he did it quickly, so she could get back the painting she had been working on.

"Yes?" she prompted.

"Um…listen…you—you know about the ball in a few days, right?"

"Yes," she sighed. "And no, I'm most likely not going to go, so it might be a little hard for you to have your fun without me there to embarrass."

"I wasn't planning to embarrass you!" Jack assured her quickly. "I kind of…well, I, uh…I was sort of wondering…"

"Yeeeeessss?" she dragged out the word, waiting for him to finish.

"Um…would you…would you like…would you like t-to go the ball with me?"

Now it was she who was lost for words.

"Um…" she hesitated for a long moment, until a thought struck her. It was one of his stupid pranks. "Wait a second." She could feel her cheeks getting hot. Why hadn't she seen it coming? "Why do you want to go to the ball with me?"

"Uh…" he blinked for a second.

Satisfied that she was right and slightly hurt that he'd only asked her to make her feel stupid, she was about to turn away when a quiet voice replied, "Because I really like you."

Surely, surely, that wasn't the voice of Jack Frost?

She turned around so fast that the skirt of her dress swung in a circle as she spun, fixing Jack with an icy glare. "Uh-huh," she retorted, crossing her arms. "Which, of course, perfectly explains the blizzard of '68, right?"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Listen, I…I'm sorry about that. I mean it," he added at her dubious look. "I want to go to this ball and I'd lo—like for you to be my date to it."

He darted a nervous glance or two at her, privately thinking her eyes would soon shoot up off her forehead with how high they were rising. Then she said something completely out of the blue. "Okay."

"What?" he asked, before catching himself. "I, uh…I mean, great. Awesome. Wicked. Cool."

"Alright, stop with the synonyms!" she snapped, crossing her arms over the chest of her green and white floral print sundress and leaning back against the wall of her tree. "This doesn't mean I'm expected to tolerate you after it. You still drive me insane."

"So why are you going with me?"

_Because no other guy in their right mind will ask Genevieve Bloom and the only one who will is most likely going to stand her up on the night of the ball. _She shrugged. "Guess I can put up with you for a night," she said. "If you show, that is."

"Of course I will," he replied as if she were crazy, as if he didn't know that it had happened to her before. "I'll be there."

She nodded and said, "Well, I'd better get back to—

"Yeah, you'd better…I mean, I'd better— Jack began awkwardly.

"Yeah," Genevieve finished lamely and turned to go farther into her tree. She felt a blast of cold wind as Jack Frost left her tree door and then a whoop of joy from way above.

"SHE SAID YES!"

She smiled, shaking her head a little at the happiness in his voice. Maybe this time would be a little different.


	96. Getting a Date Part 4

**A/N: Chapter 96: Getting a Date Part 4**

**Well, yay for me! I'm updating today! :D I loved writing this :D You guys have no idea how much I'm gonna miss it xD Well, Genevieve Bloom is most likely going to depart from the story after this, because I normally try to keep romance out of my stories, but this arc just like begged to be written. Besides, I like Bunny with the spirit of spring better, but for convenience purposes, it had to be Jack who was interested in her. I just know a lot of people do that the spirit of summer is the girl Jack likes, but I decided to do the spirit of spring :D**

**xD Anyway, I can't believe I got this many reviews, follows and favorites. You guys rule! No seriously. You do :D **

* * *

"So, how was it?"

"So how was what?" Jack asked, trying to play it cool.

"Don't mess with me, mate, how was the bloody ball?" Bunny demanded, folding his arms and shooting Jack a glare.

"Oh. The ball." Jack said it slowly, as if he were trying to remember it. Bunny sighed impatiently.

"Don't make me tell North you have a girlfriend," he threatened.

He thought he saw Jack's face pale a little. "Okay! Okay!" Jack said quickly and Bunny smiled to himself.

_Bunny, 1. Jack, 0. _

"It went well," Jack managed.

"Really?"

"Well, I mean, there were some…complications at the beginning, but—

"What are you talking about?" North asked, stepping into the room and neatly sidestepping a few elves who quickly jingled out of the way. "What were there complications about?"

"Oh…nothing," Jack replied quickly, shooting Bunny a 'tell and you're dead' glare and sending North an innocent 'I'm an innocent little angel' smile. "Just some complications about…stuff."

North just gave him a long look.

"I'll tell you later," Jack said quickly. "It's not even that important."

"It isn't, mate," Bunny added. "He's talkin' about redoin' the Spirit Pact again."

"Oh. Alright." North shrugged.

"How do you know about the Spirit Pact?" Jack asked, looking at Bunny with something close to awe.

Bunny shrugged. "I'm full of surprises."

The Spirit Pact was a vow saying if you butted in on another spirit's season or holiday, you basically received a butt-kicking…not very pleasant.

North exited the room calling for a yeti.

"Now, c'mon, mate, how was the ball?" Bunny asked, sitting down in the nearest chair.

"Aren't we eager to hear about it?" Jack teased.

"Well, seein' as I helped you get the date…"

"Well, seeing as I could've done it myself…"

"But you said, 'I've never asked out a girl before'!"

"Hey, shut up!"

Their bickering lasted for another ten to fifteen minutes before finally Bunny demanded to know what had happened unless Jack wanted him to go into the next Guardian meeting loudly singing about Jack and Genevieve sitting in a tree.

"Okay, okay!" Jack yelled, hands up in surrender. "Okay! So we went to the ball. Victoria greeted us at the door. It was a nice place, where she held it. It was like, reserved for the spirits or the ball or something, because there were no mortals around for miles. It was nice and Genevieve looked really beautiful…"

He paused for a second, a kind of dreamy smile on his face before Bunny made a noise of impatience and Jack quickly caught himself.

"Um…er, right," he coughed, sticking his hands in his hoodie pocket. "Um…it was really nice, actually. Genevieve was really happy, or that's the way it seemed. And you know, there were some rough patches, but we got through okay. We're still here, right?" He gave a self-conscious little chuckle, face going the color of a blueberry.

"You look embarrassed," Bunny teased. "What happened? Did you freeze her solid?" He chuckled at his own joke.

Jack cut him a look of annoyance. "No…"

"Then?" Bunny prompted.

"I maybe, kind of, probably, sorta forgot to mention that I don't know how to dance," Jack confessed. "Luckily, she did, so I just kind of followed her lead."

"Nice," Bunny snorted sarcastically.

Jack's face was still purple and blue. "Thanks. You never fail to boost my self-esteem, cottontail."

"That's what I'm here for," Bunny replied. "Keep going."

* * *

"FROST!"

It was three weeks after the ball and Bunny wasn't amused.

His cry echoed throughout the North Pole as the other Guardians filed in for a meeting.

Jack shrank down a little in his seat. "Looks like he found the ice sculpture."

"What ice sculpture?" clucked Tooth, looking down at him sliding down in his seat, clearly hoping to hide from Bunny.

The rabbit burst through the door, holding a tiny ice rabbit with long fluffy ears and emerald green eyes.

It really was extremely cute.

"I'm not a warrior," it squeaked. "I'm just a little rabbit." It then began munching on a little ice carrot and Tooth squealed, "It's so cute!"

Bunny crossed his arms. "Destroy them."

"Them?" North half-glanced at Jack.

"Yeah. Them. In the plural."

"Alright, chill, Bunny," Jack said, raising his hands and sitting upright in his seat, giving up on hiding. "I'll destroy 'em all when the meeting's over, okay?"

"Hmph," snorted an offended Bunny.

Jack allowed the smallest of grins to pass over his face and Bunny looked pissed for half a second before his face spread into an evil grin.

"Hey, North," he said, turning to the jolly man, "did you hear about Jack's new girlfriend?"

"BUNNY!"


	97. Remember

**A/N: Chapter 97: Remember**

**Okay! We're almost at 100 chapters, so woo-hoo for us! xD I hope you enjoy this angsty drabble I resurrected from the depths of an old RotG notebook xD it had so much angst in there xD **

* * *

It's always the same. I cause the snow day, I get in an 'every-man-for-himself' snowball fight and then…then they bring up how excited they are for Christmas and that Santa's gonna be here, or how they're sick of snow and can't wait for Easter, or how they lost a tooth the other day and plan to put it under their pillows.

And then they all wander away, laughing and punching each other on the shoulders and they completely forget about me.

I'm left behind again. I'm alone again. I'm nothing more than a blast of cold wind nipping at their noses, a wind they just want to get away from because they're freezing cold.

Those nights, I leave little frost patterns on their windows, just to assure myself that I am still here. And I always am.

But that's not always a good thing. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't. Sometimes, I wish it was possible for me to freeze to death or something.

God, anything – _anything_ – would be better than this.

How is it that I always end up alone?

How is it that they always forget about me? They completely forget about me and all the fun we just had and I wonder why they don't see me, why I don't matter to anyone at all.

And I'm angry.

Hell, yeah, I'm angry. I'm furious. Because I just want somebody to see me. I don't expect much. I don't want anything big. Just a child to run out into the snow one clear, crisp winter morning and yell, "Thank you, Jack Frost!"

I just want to feel that warm feeling I imagine somebody must get when somebody else locks eyes with you.

But even more powerful than anger is yearning. Mostly, I'm yearning. I yearn for someone to look at me and remember.

I yearn for them to remember all the fun we just had and for once think of me, not the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny or Santa Claus. Just me. Just once.

Is that really too much to ask?

All I want is somebody to walk away from a snowball fight laughing at the memory of all the fun we just had. All I want is someone to remember.


	98. One Of Those Human Things

**A/N: Chapter 98: One of Those Human Things**

**:) Um...yeah...no idea...just no idea...it's been my head canon for awhile that Jack's dad was abusive. IDK. D: IDK. **

* * *

A quiet breeze played by the window of the North Pole, the only window thrown open on this freezing night.

The chill ran deeper tonight to reflect the emotions of the spirit perched on the sill, looking down at the snowy landscape or up at the moon and the endless stars.

The moonlight glinted sharply off the snow and ice and the glare hurt the spirit's eyes a bit, so he lifted them from the ground to the air, talking aimlessly to the wind, which played around his face, lifting his hair. "I'm fine," he mumbled to it, but his fingers were wrapped tightly around a small gold box.

He glanced down at it and the wind blew by him. _What's that? _

"It's nothing, Wind," Jack responded quietly, fingers roving over the green diamond in the middle. He was slightly tempted to press it, hoping to be immersed in a happier memory than the one he'd just seen. He knew it was stupid. He knew it was silly to be sad about these things, because they had happened three hundred years ago.

But some of them still bothered him and some still scared him in fact, more like flashbacks than memories but he would see them clearly, frighteningly clearly. "Just…my memories." He added in a barely audible whisper and then came a shaky, half-sob of a laugh. "It's funny. All I wanted to do was remember and now all I want to do is forget."

He thought of going for a quick flight to Burgess and seeing the kids, but a glance at his clock squashed his plan: the glowing red numbers announced it to be one a.m.

He sighed, brushing his hair away from his face and rubbing two fingers against his forehead, enjoying the wind's comforting caress. "I'm okay," he assured it again, just as the door opened and North walked in quietly.

Jack didn't look around as he heard the tiniest creak of the floorboards. He knew what this was about. Though he tried to be quiet, North never failed to wake Jack when he came in to check on him every night.

Sometimes North came in early, at nine o' clock or even seven or eight. Other nights, he came in late at night, wanting to check on the frost boy who had been quiet for too long.

"Jack?" North's gentle voice jerked him out of his thoughts. "Is…everything ok?" Jack sensed hesitation and concern in the older Guardian's voice, so he rearranged his face into a pleased smile and lifted his head.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Jack responded, nodding a little to try and reinforce this opinion.

The wind blew a little harder. _No, you're not._

Jack sighed and sent a glare at the night sky, wanting to reply verbally but knowing North didn't understand the wind (thank Moon!) and would ask Jack who he was talking to.

"Alright," North replied hesitantly, turning to leave but Jack's voice stopped him. "Wait. North?"

"Yeah?" North turned to look back at the winter child, all curled up on the sill, the moonlight glancing delicately off his pale face, creating silvery white bars across his blue hoodie.

"Thanks," Jack whispered, voice trembling slightly as he thought of what he had just seen and how much he wished he had put off his curiosity for one more night.

It was goofy, he argued with himself, to be this upset about something that happened centuries ago.

"Jack?" North began, but before he could finish his sentence, Jack had blurted out, "North?"

Then he stopped, biting his lip. "You go first."

"No, no, you go first," North responded so Jack bit down slightly harder on his lip, tasting warm blood before the droplet froze before it even touched his chin.

"Um…I…so I was watching my memories," he said in a voice that he desperately hoped sounded off-hand. "You think I should…" he swallowed. "Do you think I should give them back to Tooth now?"

"Well," North sat down heavily next to the winter spirit on the sill. The wood seemed to sigh and creak as he rested his weight on it. "Have you finished watching all your memories?"

"I…" Jack hesitated as North drew closer to the subject he half wanted to discuss, but also half didn't. "I…I haven't," he admitted in a quiet voice. "But…I'm not sure I want to." He sneaked a peek at North, who just stared down at him, brow knitting in confusion.

"Of course you want to!" North declared. "You're finding out who you _were_, who you _are_…isn't this what you wanted?"

"That was before I knew who I was," Jack mumbled, staring down at the golden tooth box.

"Sometimes," North said, forcing his tone to be gentler, "we have a hard time accepting what was, what is, what could've been. It's one of those human things." He gave Jack a tight, sad little smile. "Your past life comes with regrets, Jack. But I'm pretty sure it's also gonna come with a lot of happiness. And only you can decide whether you'd rather live in regret or dwell on the happy times."

Jack swallowed and when he next spoke, it was so quiet North would surely have missed it if he hadn't been listening so hard. "I saw my human dad for the first time." The words were spoken in a trembling whisper and North didn't understand.

He remembered Jack's words from last month. _"North, no! You're not replacing my dad, you ARE my dad!"_

Jack took a steadying breath and said quietly, so quietly, "He was angry with me."

North sucked in a long, slow breath. "Jack, what are you—?"

"I was embarrassing him," he whispered. "And my dad never liked to be embarrassed."

North was silent this time and refrained from interrupting, though his mind swirled with questions. He had to let Jack speak.

"He beat me." Jack's breathing was labored now, coming in rapid breaths. "He _beat_ me and he made my sister _watch_. _She was three years old_. _Three years old._"

North swallowed, waiting to see if Jack would continue.

Jack gave a laugh that could've been a whimper. "He made her watch. I mean…why'd he have to drag her into it? Couldn't he have just reamed me a new one, told me I'd done something wrong? Why'd he have to do it in front of her? I mean…I mean, she was three freaking years old! She wasn't even…she wasn't…" he paused, swallowing and taking a breath, then glancing back out at the snowy landscape and speaking in a slightly dead voice. "Anyway. You can go now, if you want. Sorry for the rant."

North's heart squeezed in pity for the teen in front of him. "How old were you?" he whispered gently.

"Twelve," Jack whispered back, not looking at the older Guardian.

North put a comforting, large hand on Jack's knee. "I'm sorry."

Jack shrugged. "Doesn't matter, I guess. I'm alright."

North cocked his head, waiting for Jack to say something else, but he didn't.

"If you'd like to talk about it a little more…"

"No," Jack interrupted quietly. "There's been enough sadness for me tonight." He lifted his head and shot North a weak smile.


	99. Rigid

**A/N: Chapter 99: Rigid**

**OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE ALMOST AT 100 CHAPTERS HOLY COW **

**So I re-watched RotG and I realized Jack gets really tense and rigid at certain points. This led to that and that led to angst and angst led to...this drabble! :D Well, technically, it's a one-shot, since it's five hundred words, but I'm going to call it a monster drabble xD**

* * *

Bunny couldn't think why he had noticed.

That day Jack was picked to be a Guardian and got dragged into the Pole, Bunny had hardly cared about him. The rabbit, after all, wasn't known for being terribly forgiving or even observant.

So he couldn't think why he had noticed the slight change in Jack in the Pole.

"I mean, what's this clown know about bringing joy to children, anyway?" he asked, scratching his furry cheek with his paw.

Jack stiffened. He'd been relaxed, a little overwhelmed and slightly annoyed with the Guardians and their whole ridiculous ceremony, but he'd managed to derail them from that momentarily and he'd been okay. But now, he felt anger tensing his muscles and he went rigid. There was a short pause as Jack struggled to compose himself so he wouldn't do or say something that would get him kicked out even faster than he was already going to be. "Uh, you ever hear of a snow day? I know it's no hard-boiled egg, but kids like what I do."

"But none of 'em believe in you," Bunny replied in a scarily intense voice, like he could see right through Jack and all the crap he put out to the rest of the world. The analogy made Jack's lips threaten a sarcastic smile. The irony of Bunny insulting his invisibility when he himself saw right through Jack as well – just in a different way. "Do they? You see, you're invisible, mate. It's like you don't even exist."

There was a loud gasp and Tooth suddenly fluttered into view. "Bunny! Enough." Her voice was quiet, like that of a mother lovingly teaching her child that being unkind to others was wrong.

Jack hated her quiet, patient tone, like she thought Bunny might've hurt him – and he did, but the frost boy wasn't about to tell him so. So he struggled to fix another sarcastic smile on his face and lifted his head defiantly. "No, no. The kangaroo's right."

"The…the what?" Bunny sputtered, unable to believe his large, furry ears. "What did you call me? I am not a kangaroo, mate." He broke free from Tooth's restraining, feathery arm.

"Oh. And this whole time I thought you were," Jack replied sarcastically, voice clearly hinting at someone who was trying to cut deep, to lash out, to strike a nerve. He was still rigid as a board. His position hadn't relaxed. "If you're not a kangaroo, what are you?"

"I'm a bunny," Bunny responded angrily, leaning closer to Jack, breathing warm, quiet breaths near him. "The Easter Bunny." He made sure to emphasize the last two words. Then he deepened his tone slightly, knowing he had the power to cut even deeper than Jack without trying. "People believe in me."

Jack's grip on his staff tightened. Frozen tears threatened and he blinked them away, but he held Bunny's steady emerald gaze with his sapphire one. The entire time, Jack didn't relax. He kept his guard up and he kept himself rigid.

North stepped forward at a prod from Sandy, both of them eager to break the tension that seemed to have settled upon the scene. "Jack. Walk with me." He whispered.

And then Jack turned away and he relaxed, just a little, fingers loosening a little around his staff, no longer standing with such solid rigidity.


	100. Pitch's Center Part 1

**A/N: Chapter 100: Pitch's Center Part 1**

**OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG *explodes* my 100th chapter! Thank you guys FOR ALL THE REVIEWS THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THIS IS THE LONGEST FANFIC I HAVE EVER WRITTEN I AM SO HAPPY :'D **

**I'm sorry for any Pitch haters out there who will hate me for this arc. Don't like, don't read. I'm writing it cuz I like it.**

* * *

Jack Frost remembered this day in quick flashes: the widening of North's blue eyes, Tooth's gasp of horror, Bunny's promise to get Pitch to the Pole and bloody quickly at that.

Sandy's confused barrage of images, his own tense, nervous anxiety as he waited for Bunny to return.

When the portal finally opened in the Globe Room, the other Guardians breathed a collective sigh of relief, pleased to finally be able to do something about this.

Jack vaguely remembered North yelling at Pitch as the dark man crawled out of the foul-smelling red sack and Tooth's constant threats while Bunny and Sandy simply watched it all, looking, if anything, a little entertained.

Jack could only remember one thing about the day: some strange pedestal rising up during the meeting and North's gasp.

When Jack had turned to ask what was going on, he heard North say, "Why...? Manny, why are you choosing another one?"

From this, Jack guessed he must be choosing a new Guardian, though he couldn't think why.

When the sculpture of Pitch Black rose up, none of them were sure what to think. They all exchanged alarmed looks, but the man in the moon wasn't done.

The pedestal disappeared again beneath the stone floor and shadows began playing out the new danger: a shadow of a woman with thin shoulders and a long dress.

North pressed two thick fingers against his mouth to stop himself from gasping outright.

"What? What is Myrtle up to this time?" Bunny demanded.

"Myrtle?" Jack was confused.

Tooth looked unusually shaken, but both she and Sandy stopped to explain things to Jack.

"Myrtle is the spirit of the earth," she explained. "She loves all living things, plants, trees, forests. She's been getting more active lately and not in a good way."

"What do you mean?" Jack demanded.

'The spirit of the earth ought to help support humans, even if she doesn't necessarily like what they're doing,' Sandy related to Jack through his images. 'And the spirit of the earth definitely doesn't like what the humans are doing. In fact, she's begun making attempts to wipe out civilization. She wants things back to the way they were, before people began cutting down forests for places to build skyscrapers and companies.'

"She's—she's been trying to wipe out—wipe out the entire human race?" Jack repeated, unable to believe his ears – er, eyes, technically speaking. "Is that what she's doing?"

"Well…technically," Tooth admitted. "She hasn't really aimed for the destruction of the entire human race, just small towns here and there. And she…" Tooth shuddered a little, sinking lower to the ground. "She's been going after children first because she thinks they're weakest."

"This might not even be Myrtle at all," Bunny added, scowling at the moon out the window. "This is going to be Pitch, I bet you anything."

Jack was dragged back to earth with an unpleasant bump. "What?"

* * *

"What did you do?" North demanded, pressing close to Pitch with his sword. The Boogeyman had just barely untangled himself from the sack before North had gone for him.

"What are you talking about?" Pitch yelled.

"You know what I'm talking about!" North yelled right back. The spirit of Christmas didn't look quite so jolly anymore. In fact, he was looking more like "crazed murderer" than "joyful Guardian".

"No, I don't," Pitch said, though his tone was a little calmer now. "I don't understand."

"Man in Moon chose you," North breathed. Pitch caught the scent of cookie and peppermint on the Russian Guardian's breath, but chose to ignore this. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he snorted. "Why would he choose me?"

"See?" Bunny hopped forward. "Even this idiot here knows he'll never be a Guardian."

"Like I'd want to be," Pitch snarled back.

"But that means…" Jack began. He and Sandy found each other's gaze, locked in a moment of understanding.

Tooth still didn't get it and was fluttering around. "Then what are you still doing here?" she asked Pitch, who leaped to his feet.

"Believe me, I'm going!" he snapped.

"That means that if it wasn't Pitch…"

'Who was it?' Sandy "asked".

"What are you two talking about?" North asked, looking over at them.

"If it wasn't Pitch, who was it?" Jack demanded.

North shook his head. "He's not putting up a fight. He really doesn't want to be one of us. And if he doesn't, well…" he shrugged. "There really isn't that much we can do about it. Right, Bunny? Toothy?" He turned to look for them, only to see them standing in a bright shaft of moonlight with Pitch.

"There you are, then," Pitch said in an irritatingly superior tone. "The moon wasn't pleased with you idiots bringing me here." He turned to go.

"Wait," Tooth replied, putting out a hand to stop him. "What _is_ he trying to say then?"

Bunny scratched between his ears for a second, looking confused. "I don't understand…" he mumbled.

Jack flew over to stand beside them. The moon did seem unusually bright, but there was something else…he almost heard the next words that entered his mind with his ears, but he knew they were only in his head.

_Pitch is one of you._

"What?" Jack breathed, unable to believe it. Just what was the moon playing at?

Bunny glanced uncertainly around the rest of the group.

Pitch was scowling at the night sky like each shining star had done him a great wrong.

Tooth's mouth was half-open.

North's eyebrows were about to disappear into his hair and Sandy was standing with his arms crossed, scowling, looking extraordinarily like Pitch.

Jack fixed his face into a glare, too. "He's wrong."

"What?" the others demanded.

Pitch reached for the door.

"No!" North said. He put out a hand to stop him. "If Man in Moon says it, it must be true." He threw a rather annoyed look at the moon. "We will have trial."

"Trial?" Pitch repeated anxiously.

"We will have trial week." North declared. "If it works out, you shall become…" he swallowed a little, forcing the last two words out. "A Guardian."


	101. Pitch's Center Part 2

**A/N: Chapter 101: Pitch's Center Part 2**

**Holy crud, I'm already at one-hundred-one chapters? This rocks! xD I've been busy lately working on this and other stories and although I really want to continue this arc and write the next chapter for it today, I might have to blow it off because I think my 'Uncle Gobber' readers hate me because of how sick I am making everybody's favorite talking fishbone and my 'Overachiever' readers hate me because I put Hiccup through hell lol xD So, hopefully, updating quickly might make them like me more xD **

* * *

Pitch's trial week didn't exactly get off to a stellar start.

For one thing, it took everybody about five seconds to realize that if Pitch really hadn't somehow manipulated everything to get himself named as the sixth Guardian, then the man in the moon's warnings about Myrtle might need to be taken seriously.

There was a silence as everybody collectively understood this and then Pitch easily broke it by crossing his arms and saying irritably, "Well, then, what are we standing here for?"

North cut Pitch an annoyed look, but replied, "Much as it pains me to say, Pitch is right. Let us go."

"Go where?" Jack asked.

"To Myrtle's forest," Tooth responded absently, already fluttering forward.

Pitch grumbled something under his breath, but began moving with them, at least until Tooth blocked his way.

"What are you doing?" Pitch demanded.

"You're not going with us," Tooth declared, crossing her arms. Her wings fluttered angrily behind her, making her seem more like a mad hornet than a kind-hearted hummingbird.

"I wouldn't want to anyway, Toothiana," Pitch replied icily, but Tooth had a full head of steam now and was plowing forward, completely ignoring the Nightmare King's eye roll.

"How can we trust you to have our backs? If this thing with Myrtle turns to combat, we can't trust you to defend us if one of us is in danger! You've tried to kill each of us and with one, you nearly succeeded!" She angrily indicated Sandy, who just crossed his arms and glared at Pitch, too, waiting for the Boogeyman's argument.

But Pitch could only stare, open-mouthed. "I'm not going to attack any of you!" he said. "Haven't you ever read any of those fantasy books? Jeez! I won't attack if your guard is up! I'm not an idiot!"

This seemed to only stiffen Tooth's resolve that Pitch wouldn't be coming and while Bunny and North were all for this, Jack glanced between the Guardians and Pitch and finally found his voice. "Guys, he has a point."

This made everybody, even the Nightmare King, stop short. "What?" they all demanded, in seemingly perfect unison.

"Well, we all know he won't attack us now," Jack said exasperatedly. "He's right. We're too suspicious of him to give him a chance. If he was gonna do anything to us, he'd wait until after Myrtle was dealt with and he'd…" he shot Pitch a look, trying to find the right words. "Proven himself trustworthy or something, I don't know."

Pitch still had a look similar to shock on his face, but quickly shook it off. "I hate to admit it, but the winter twit is right," he said, not even noticing Jack's eye roll at 'winter twit'. "Attacking any of you is not on my agenda. Besides, I'm not really in much of a position to attack any of you, anyways." He formed a small nightmare horse out of black sand and she had barely uttered her first neigh before she collapsed into coal-colored dust.

"Not pretty," he said calmly, "but there really is nothing else for it. It's only been a few months since the battle on Easter. My powers are almost completely gone. And even if you did allow me to go with you, I would find myself unable to defend any of you. I'm almost completely powerless."

North, Bunny and Tooth exchanged looks, but Sandy's expression, if anything, seemed to harden.

"Fine," North allowed. "Let's just all get in the sleigh, alright?" he threw a testy look at Toothiana, who crossed her arms, her mouth set in a thin, firm line.

Bunny was also looking irritated and he added, "I'm taking a tunnel."

"There's no time!"

"My tunnels are faster!"

Jack got the feeling that Bunny's nerves were already stretched to the limit about Pitch and Myrtle and that a sleigh ride definitely wouldn't help, so he didn't try to tease Bunny about being "chicken" as he might have previously done.

Instead, he just swallowed and watched the show like Pitch was doing, golden eyes raking first Bunny, then North, then Bunny again.

"Fine," North said at last, breaking Bunny's gaze. "If you don't want to, I suppose there really is no way I can force you to."

Jack wanted to speak up and say that there were a number of ways that North could've forced Bunny into the sleigh if he'd wanted to, but again, he felt that North's unpredictable anger stemmed from Pitch and so he simply bit his tongue.

North and the others all went for the sleigh while Bunny created a tunnel with his foot. "I'll be waiting for ya there," he told North.

A ghost of the jolly smile North often wore flitted across the Russian Cossack's face. "If we're not waiting for you," he replied simply and with that, they were taking the elevator, exiting the workshop, the door was opening and the reindeer were stampeding out, dragging the magnificent red sleigh with them.

Pitch's mouth was going thinner and thinner, and he examined the unstable-looking wheels in the back before saying tentatively, "And there, uh, isn't a…a _safer_ way to go, is there?"

Jack was strongly reminded of Bunny on the day the winter spirit had been chosen. "Well, sure, there are safer ways," Jack said, and as Pitch relaxed and began to open his mouth, the winter boy added, "We could put in seatbelts for one thing, but what's the point? We can all fly, after all."

Pitch swallowed and slowly lowered himself into the red monstrosity, hating the white-haired spirit beside him, who was wearing a grin and looking very pleased with himself.

Jack was thinking that having Pitch around for the week might turn out to be – just a little bit – fun.


	102. Pitch's Center Part 3

**Chapter 102: Pitch's Center Part 3**

* * *

The sleigh wasn't bad.

Not good, but not bad, either. Jack kept Pitch distracted through most of it and Pitch was pleasantly surprised to find the frost boy was quite interesting and funny when he tried to be.

Halfway through, North announced they were taking a shortcut and pulled out a snow globe.

"Do we have to?" Jack called, hugely disappointed.

Looking around at them all, hearing North's booming laugh and Tooth's whoops of delight as she rode in the sleigh – it was her first time and not even Pitch could ruin this – he realized the one thing that would always stand in the way.

The others, they truly were Guardians, devoted protectors of children.

He was just Pitch Black, the odd one out, the Boogeyman, the reason for fear and darkness, the reason behind nightmares themselves.

What was Manny thinking picking him to be the next Guardian?

When they landed rather badly in the heart of Myrtle's forest, Bunny was indeed waiting for them there.

"Told ya I'd be here," he told North, grinning. Not even Pitch could kill their rivalry, although they'd always attack the enemy first.

"Mmf," North grunted. "Beginner's luck." He drew his swords and held them out in front of him threateningly, warning them to slice at any roots they might find.

"Why?" Jack asked curiously, watching Pitch create a small nightmare horse that cantered around him weakly. "And do you have to do that?" he added sharply to Pitch.

He seemed a little keyed up, the Boogeyman thought, and so he raised an eyebrow and said in a taunting tone, "Why? Scared, Frost?"

He heard Jack give an impatient snort that was meant to be a laugh. "As if," he muttered.

Pitch shrugged, turning to North. "Why do we kill the roots?"

"The roots are the source of Myrtle's power," Tooth explained, though she was looking beyond him, towards Jack. This annoyed Pitch a little – sure, he might have done something to get on their bad side in the past, but just a week and it would all be over because this stupid trial would be sure to fail.

Why couldn't they have the decency to at least _talk_ to him while he was here?

He rolled his eyes as Tooth continued speaking. "So, in essence, destroying the roots destroy her," she concluded. "Shouldn't be too hard, right guys?"

"And people wonder why the spirit of the earth hates winter," Jack said happily and he took the 'destroy the roots' mission with glee.

Glee, Pitch reflected, that the other Guardians ought to be scared of. He'd never seen Frost this happy and privately thought that you probably never wanted to.

Actually, the winter spirit seemed happy despite everything. He'd thought Frost would be one of the angrier ones and Tooth would be the most easygoing one about this, but no – clearly it was the other way around.

Jack seemed perfectly content, minus his odd, uncomfortable looks at Pitch's embarrassingly small nightmare that neighed weakly, but destroyed roots in powerful bounds.

When she came back from a particularly tough-looking one, Pitch gave her a congratulatory pat on the nose, before catching Tooth looking at him. "Anything to say, Toothiana?" he asked rudely. He only used her real name because he knew only her friends and fellow Guardians referred to her as 'Tooth' and, despite whatever the man in the moon said, he was neither.

The fairy fluttered her wings; they made an angry buzzing sound. "Nope. Nothing at all, Pitchiner."

Pitch gritted his teeth and stopped petting his nightmare horse. How was it that she always found a way to kill his buzz? He turned away from her and the others, eyes searching for any living roots. When he found one, his nightmare went after it.

He turned back around and surveyed the other Guardians – the Frost twit was freezing a root in between telling Tooth and Sandy a joke (that sounded very lame), the cookie-loving oaf known as North was slicing at a root with one powerful stroke of his sword, the egg-painting nuisance known as Bunny was using his underground tunnels to destroy them, the golden-haired idiot was spreading sand stingrays to kill the roots and Toothiana's fairies were helping her out.

He sighed as his nightmare came back to him, spreading a bit of black sand on the grass, instantly causing it to shrivel, turn brown and die. He smiled a little, swirling some of her stray sand around on his fingers and sprinkling it on some roots before he heard a voice. "Alright, quit it!"

It was an angry woman with long, dark hair going past her waist, a knee-length, plain white dress with a sheer hem and bare feet. She looked young, late teens, early twenties at the latest. She crossed her arms and leveled a glare at Pitch. "You can stop destroying my roots." Despite the slightly green tinge to her otherwise pale face, Pitch had to admit she was very pretty.

"We seem to have had a bit of a misunderstanding," Pitch began and was about to finish with 'back the (insert-not-very-nice-word-here) off', but before he could, North had intruded, smoothly sheathing his swords. "Hello, Myrtle," he greeted casually, like storming other people's homes and killing the source of their power was daily routine – which, for North, as far as Pitch knew, it might be.

"Pitch is right," North agreed, resting a hand on Pitch's shoulder. "It seems we've had a bit of a misunderstanding."

"North— Pitch began, but cut himself off, both because of North's look and because he'd actually called the oaf by his real name. God, it almost made him want to cut out his own tongue – or, in a less dramatic analogy, wash his mouth out with a bar of soap.

It wouldn't do to voice this, however.

North was still speaking to Myrtle, in the most calm, controlled manner the newest Guardian had ever heard him use. "I would like you to leave the mortals alone. Wiping out whole cities is not the answer."

"What?" sputtered Myrtle.

There was a silence in which you could've heard a pin drop, broken by the winter twit's voice. "North! Hey, North, come check this out!"

None of the others had noticed Myrtle's arrival, Pitch realized.

Jack's laughter died away and he flew up to the group, wearing a most bizarre headdress made of leaves, roses and tree branches. When he noticed Pitch, North, and the pretty older woman whom he didn't recognize, he blushed a bright, icy blue and slowly reached up and swiped the crown off his head.

Myrtle's up-and-down look immediately took in the winter spirit's raggedy clothes, dirt-caked hair and bare feet. Her green-tinged face spoke volumes, although she did not. She turned sharply back to face Pitch and North, biting her lip and finally said in a quick, quiet voice, "Come to my treehouse. Please. I'll explain everything there, I promise."

North, Pitch and Jack exchanged curt looks, while Bunny, Tooth and Sandy, who had all been killing roots from above or below, happened to glance over and notice something was wrong.

"Bunny! Toothy! Sandy!" North called for them all in turn and they all went to stand by him.

"Come on," he said simply.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, where are we going?" Bunny demanded. The rabbit was used to knowing what was going on, and being in the dark didn't suit him one bit.

"We are going to her treehouse," North replied, no further explanation involved.

Despite Bunny's constant inquiries of, "Mate, have you lost your mind?" North didn't change pace.

If anything, he went even faster, though this could simply have been because Myrtle went on ahead, in the lead and he had to keep up.

When they got there, Myrtle tentatively closed the door behind her and stared around at them all, the picture of a cornered animal. "I didn't mean to do it." She whispered.

* * *

**A/N: WARNINGS: There will most likely be dark stuff in the next chapter and I might even introduce a mythological creature. But don't walk away thinking 'Edward Cullen' 'Jacob Black' or 'R' (you know, from Warm Bodies?) because he's not going to be like that. **

**Anyways, I thought you guys might like it better if I put ANs at the end of chapters instead, so you guys only know the chapter number we're on, the name of the chapter and then you can read it and I'll tell you anything you need to know after it.**

**Um, also, important note: I'm really sorry for not updating yesterday, I had every intent to do so, but life got in the way, as it so often does. I finished this last night and didn't get to post it until today, so I'm posting it at an early hour in the hopes that it might appease you people, because I'm assuming a good chunk of my readers haven't woken up yet? So when you wake up, you can read it :) and later on, I'll try and post another chapter, too, to make up for last night, but no promises that it'll be part of the 'Pitch's Center' arc. It might just be a poem or a drabble pointing out how much angst Jack has. xD Kind of like Chapter 99 was. God, it feels so awesome to say that xD**


	103. Pitch's Center Part 4

**Chapter 103: Pitch's Center Part 4**

"Her name was Marie," Myrtle began in a quiet voice. "A lovely child. But…perhaps…a little too lovely. Her nature was undeniable and I couldn't let her continue…"

All the Guardians waited for her to collect herself.

When she did, her voice was slightly quieter. "Marie was beautiful, even at seven years old. But she was a vampire."

There was a collective gasp from the group, but Pitch, for his part, wasn't quite sure what to believe. Seeing as most of his spirit life had been spent in self-inflicted solitude, he wasn't exactly up-to-date on mythical creatures and found himself skeptical of the belief in their existence at all.

"She would take people into my forest and…and drink their blood. Even though she was small and young, she was light and speedy, easily able to overpower adults. Her friends and teachers were delighted that such a sweet little girl wanted to take them to her favorite spot in my forest, which was right there." She pointed to the ground below her tree house. "She attacked everybody and more than once, I had to stay up here, watching, listening, afraid that if I revealed myself she might think me an enemy and attack me, too.

"I was determined not to let her get away with it," Myrtle continued in a slightly softer voice. "I…I don't know whether or not my idea was right…I set up wooden crosses all around the edges of this spot and littered the ground with cloves of garlic. I meant only to stop her from drinking blood. I knew there were vampires, like the Sullen coven, that drank the blood of animals or ate only plants, as some humans do as well. I thought I could convince her if I brought her back here."

She fell silent for a long moment, staring at her hands until North prompted gently "Then?"

"Then?" she took a deep, shuddering breath. "I told my sister about Marie. Just in case anything…went wrong…I wanted my sister to know what had happened. I made a mistake. She talked me into letting her come and instead of giving me a chance to speak with the vampire girl, she trapped her and weakened her with a clove of garlic. She attempted to drown Marie in holy water and then ripped her apart and burned the pieces."

There was a kind of horrified silence after her story was finished and then Myrtle looked up at them, eyes full of tears. "I tried to stop her," she said, like she was begging them to believe her. "I tried. I didn't want to hurt Marie. I wanted her to stop hurting others. But my sister…my sister hates vampires."

She swallowed, cleared her throat and continued in a strong, although sad, voice. "The vampires took everything from her when they attacked our home in our human life. She doesn't believe any of them deserve a second chance. She doesn't believe the way I do, that it was just one coven."

The Guardians exchanged glances, realizing now that the man in the moon hadn't been warning them about her as a threat to the children, but maybe as a spirit needing comfort.

"It wasn't your fault," North said comfortingly, laying a hand on her shoulder. She offered him a small smile.

"I didn't kill her," she responded quietly, "but I might as well have."

There was a long silence.

"I'm sorry," Tooth breathed, fluttering behind her and squeezing the girl's shoulder.

Myrtle at last cleared herself of tears and straightened her shoulders, shrugging off the Guardians' hands. "Thank you. You may go, if you wish."

As they rode the sleigh out of Myrtle's forest, something troubled Pitch still.

Why had the man in the moon picked him for the sixth Guardian?

And, even if there was an explanation, what was his center, after all?

* * *

**A/N: Okay, the official end to the arc, but Pitch isn't officially a Guardian. He still has his trial :D I originally had quite a different idea, but I liked this one better, the idea that Myrtle wasn't a threat to the children at all! :D I really liked her character and I found I just couldn't do away with the idea of Myrtle being good :D also, her name was originally just 'Earth'. Thank God I found a different name xD **

**Furthermore, I'm SO SORRY I haven't been updating regularly! And no, no excuses this time except that I started editing an old How to Train Your Dragon story called To Be Loved the Way You Love Me and I was so focused on that I forgot about this one D: I'm sorry D: I've been meaning to work on it for weeks and I just D: DX I apologize D: I feel awful, just so you all know **


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